Komo to have own chamber

Komo district in Southern Highlands for the first time after 35 years of independence will now have its own council chamber (hausman).
The ground-breaking ceremony was attended by more than 500 people at Komo district two weeks ago following a commitment by Treasurer and Finance Minister Peter O’Neill of K650,000 for the construction of the chamber.
President Thomas Potape said the presence of government authority on the ground was very critical in restoring basic government services.
He said to achieve that required political authority must be established on the ground to govern all programmes and activities that transpired in the district that was host to the gas project.
“Komo is the heartbeat of Papua New Guinea as it hosts six of the major LNG gas fields and it is bound to underpin the economy of this nation.
“Effectively, the government and the project developer will reap so much benefit from this project, therefore, fundamental basic services required by the people must be prioritised by the national and provincial governments,” he said.
Potape used the occasion to thank the Somare-Polye government through O’Neill in committing K650,000 for the new council chambers.
He further thanked Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru for allocating K200,000, James Marape (K200,000) and Francis Potape (K250,000) to Komo district.
He said the total funding including O’Neill’s commitment would bring the total cost to K1.3 million.