Big plans for Tokua upgrade

 THE National Government is investing heavily to upgrade the facilities at Tokua Airport to international standards, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says.

He said the airport’s runway was being upgraded to cater for direct flights from Australia, China and Japan.

O’Neill said foreign visitors coming through Tokua would get visas on arrival.

“You will get visa on arrival when you get there,” he told a business meeting in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday. 

“Only time you won’t get visa on arrival is when you arrive in Port Moresby. 

“That is for obvious reasons and we have been discussing with the Australian Government for quite a while and we hope that we can overcome some of those issues on the visa on arrival.”

O’Neill revealed that when highlighting opportunities in PNG outside of the resources sector.

“There are great opportunities for new investments and, of course, our old partners who are already investing in the country, not only in the mining and oil and gas sector, or in the construction sector but in other areas like tourism and agriculture,” he said.

“We are investing heavily in tourism. Many of you will be glad to know that Kokopo is only three-and-a-half hours from Brisbane. 

“You don’t all have to go to Bali as the only tourism destination for Australians. 

“In fact, the Government is now expanding the runway at airport facilities so that we can have 

direct flights from Brisbane and Cairns, direct flights from the Narita (Tokyo) and direct flight from Beijing.”