Central has potential, says Haoda

 THE people of Central have the potential to develop the province through their knowledge and skills, Governor Kila Haoda says.

He said this during the ground breaking ceremony for the Rigo district hospital at Kwikila station last Friday. 

“We have to encourage and motivate people to help themselves. The handout mentality must stop,” Haoda said.

“For too long our land has been taken away easily. We the people of Central have the resources, we have the brains and we will educate our people.”

The governor said that his vision was to bring back the “glory days” of Central, which included infrastructure development. One of way of doing that said was to sponsor Central students in tertiary institutions.

Haoda said he aimed to empower Central people through education and training and then utilise them to develop their own districts. 

Health and HIV/AIDS Minister Michael Malabag added that training of health workers was part of the National Health Plan to improve and strengthen district health systems to provide better services in the rural areas. 

He added that PNG did not have enough health workers and urged his fellow MPs to look after the few that they had in their respective electorates. 

“The government is committed to maintaining and building new health facilities in the country,” Malabag said.

“With the new health facility (Rigo district hospital) it will strengthen primary health care services.”

He also thanked the Korean government for the financial and technical assistance towards the project which costs about US$5.5 million (K12.5 million). 

He said while the Korean government provided funding for the project, the PNG would fund the operations, manpower and equipment. 

The minister also supported remarks made by Transport Minister and Rigo MP Ano Pala earlier for Southern region MPs to work together for development.

“Southern region must form that union-show our unity for the people of Papua and bring development back to the region,” he said.