Becoming a city to be proud of

 THE K800 million that the national government is reportedly allocating to the National Capital District to help it build new roads and upgrade existing ones is greatly welcomed.

It surely must be one of the biggest packages ever and I thank the prime minister and NCD Governor Powes Parkop for their efforts to turn Port Moresby into a model city in the South Pacific.

The NCDC also announced that the national government is injecting some K1.5billion to develop the city.

Never has the city received such massive support since our independence 37 years ago, no thanks to mismanagement and corruption.

In the past, we celebrated our independence without any real meaning or pride but this year is and should be different.

The O’Neill government has proven to the nation that it aims to deliver and has shown results.

And there is more to come.

With all the developments taking place in Port Moresby, the 2015 Pacific Games will provide a great opportunity for PNG to show our Melanesian brothers that Port Moresby is being transformed and will become a place to visit in the future.

We can also be proud that PNG is able to host international events that only developed countries previously could.

For example in 2018, Port Moresby will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting which will be attended by the presidents of the United States, Russia and China as well as the prime ministers of Japan and other nations.

The challenge now for our city and the national government is to build more quality restaurants and hotels to accommodate these leaders, their delegations, members of the media and etc.

Douglas Gilichibi

Port Moresby