Governor says Hela has lost faith in govt

 THE people of Hela and the new provincial government have lost trust in Waigani, the hub of the national government, Hela Governor Anderson Agiru said yesterday.

“I got the people behind this (LNG) project because they believed as I believed that the national government can deliver,” Agiru said. 

“I am here addressing landowner issues and trying to keep them at bay but after three years of neglect and the people seeing no promises fulfilled, it has come to a point where we have lost trust in the national government.”  

He made his bitterness known after launching a K4 million road project to connect Homa in the Moran PDL 5 area to Tari.

Agiru said the road was a national government commitment under the Moran memorandum of understanding. Some 20km have been built under Kutubu tax credit from Kutubu to Homa and the rest remains to be completed under the Moran MoA.

Agiru drew the K4 million from the infrastructure development grant but it will be insufficient to fund the new 40km road. 

The road will eventually need to link up Kutubu and Kikori in neighbouring Gulf province. 

Agiru also allocated K700,000 to the Evangelical church of PNG to revive the Benaria Primary School, shut due to law and order problems and isolation.

The Homa-Tari road, when built, will end the school’s isolation as it will provide access.

“I am working my guts out keeping my people at bay while Waigani thinks it is all smooth sailing out here. The majority of problems here are a result of government neglect,” Agiru said.

“Waigani needs to come good with me today. It is a pity Waigani has not learnt a single lesson from Bougainville. The crisis there came following a litany of broken promises and years of neglect.”

He called on the government to allocate funding in 2014 to begin work on the Hela city and townships for Mendi, Ialibu, Koroba, Margarima, Komo, Lake Kopiago and Kikori, plus the Kutubu and Nongoli growth centres.

“The people must get some indication that the government is serious or they will rebel,” Agiru said.