Hela govt commits K10mil to complete court facilities

Highlands

The Hela administration has committed K10 million to the National Judicial Staff Services for the completion of court facilities in Tari.
Administrator William Bando gave K3 million as part payment after signing an agreement with Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia in Port Moresby yesterday.
Bando said said Hela was a challenging place when dealing with law and order issues and it was important to have an effective court system in place.
“Infrastructure and logistics still remain a challenge for the province,” Bando said. “The first lot of buildings were never completed.
“We were discussing how we would complete them, but the earthquake destroyed everything.”
He said the Feb 26 earthquake damaged the court facilities.
“The land acquired had cost us K3 million,” he said.
Bando said the land was available and the judiciary would take care of the projects.
He said Hela needed a courthouse and houses for a resident judge, magistrates and public prosecutors soon because there was no point in Hela police apprehending people when there were no courts to hear cases.
“We are happy to have come into this partnership,” he said.
“We tried to do it on our own but we could not.
“Therefore, we will stand and support the judiciary.”
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia said that when the judiciary visited any province, it looked into working closely with provincial administrators to discuss ways
to develop provincial court facilities.
“In my last visit to Hela a year and a half ago, I visited Tari,” Injia said.
“I visited the site and was happy with the progress in clearing the land in the heart of Tari.
“I saw some physical infrastructure that took shape. I noticed that main structures of houses were going up.
“After the site had been cleared and fenced and all was completed, I was aware Hela administration provided funds to develop the entire compound.
“Unfortunately I learnt later that the completion of the compound had come to a halt, and not much has happened (until) this day.”
Sir Salamo thanked the Hela administration.
“The judiciary, with the contribution received from the Hela administration is committed to ensuring that the compound be completed within a short space of time,” Sir Salamo.
“I am thankful for the provincial administration for listening to the judiciary’s request to channel the funds direct to the judiciary to manage the completion of the compound.”
Sir Salamo assured the Hela government that he was working hard to assign one resident judge to Hela.
“We managed to put a judge in Hela in 2014,” he said. “He was the late Judge Martin Ipang.”
“We all know that Justice Ipang passed away this year and there is a vacancy there to be filled.
“The judiciary is working around the clock to find a replacement for the late Justice Ipang.
“I am hopeful that in the next month or so, we should be able to have a judge in place.”