Japanese govt keen to strengthen bilateral relations

By GYNNIE KERO
THE Japanese government is keen to strengthen its bilateral relations with Papua New Guinea this was evident in its grants for projects such as education, road infrastructure among others in the country.
This was according to Ambassador Satoshi Nakajima during a tour with the local media and representatives from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to West New Britain on Monday.
Nakajima visited two schools in the province and also did a ground breaking ceremony for reconstruction of two bridges along the New Britain Highway worth around K85 million total.
He noted that the Japanese Government had also provided a grant of K23 million to procure road maintenance equipment necessary for road maintenance works in the country.
West New Britain Governor Sasindran Muthuvel thanked the Japanese Government for its assistance towards schools, roads and bridges in the province.
He said the reconstruction of the Aum and Kapiura bridges was by far the largest project by JICA in the country.
“We have witnessed over K300 million worth of investments into the province especially on infrastructures and I thank the Japanese Government for this gift.
“West New Britain need permanent infrastructures which can withstand natural disasters like floods and earthquakes.
Works secretary David Wereh also thanked the Japanese Government saying the two bridges would complement the twelve others funded by the Asian Development Bank.
He said the road maintenance equipment Works Department received from JICA were also distributed to other centers.
“In total we have about 14 b major bridges replacement on the New Britain highway, road infrastructure will support business as well as service delivery,” Wereh said.