Bishop: Lae is heartbeat of economy

 AUSTRALIAN Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has described Lae as the heartbeat of Papua New Guinea’s economy.

Bishop said this during her daylong visit to the city last week as she stressed that of the nation’s eight million people, five million access Lae for business and services, according to Lae Chamber of Commerce’s Weekly News Update.

Goods valued K1 billion arrived at the Lae port at which is 10% of the national budget.

This made Lae port one of the largest in the Pacific apart from Australia and New Zealand, Bishop said. 

At the beginning of last year, it was reported that the long-awaited project to expand Lae’s port was ahead of schedule, Asian Development Bank’s vice-president (operations 2) Stephen Groff had said.

Business Advantage PNG had reported that contractor China Harbour Engineering was expected to complete the project by the end of this year.

ADB loans had financed 70% of the project

However, Groff sounded a note of caution during his recent visit.

‘It is not just completing the port, the government needs to think ahead about what they’re going to use the port for. 

“This is a critical piece of infrastructure for the Highlands Highway, so you need to think ahead about how you’re going to use this port for imports and exports and for moving goods in and out of the area.”