Church welcomes K6m for airstrips upgrade

 THE Evangelical Alliance of Churches has thanked the Government for allocating K6 million to upgrade airstrips.

The group focuses on rural community development and mission work through the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).

National president Mathias Hamaga said in Lae there were about 400 airstrips around the country. 

He accused previous governments for failing to upgrade them.

The Rural Airstrip Agency will manage the K6m recently announced by Minister for Civil Aviation Steven Davis, following an agreement between the department, the agency and MAF. Hamaga said the group consisted of 21 church denominations with more than two million members. Its 12 service agencies include the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and MAF that have been serving the rural communities for years.

“The rural airstrip development will provide effective transport service to the rural population, especially in health, education and rural economic empowerment,” he said.

“The Christian churches under MAF for the last 50 years have played an important role but previous government didn’t recognise us.