Lae can add to economy

By ELLEN TIAMU
LAE will be a major contributor to the economic and business boom the country expects with the onset of the liquefied natural gas project in 2015.
Newly-elected member for Lae Loujaya Toni said she was made aware of this during her talks with the prime minister and other leaders at the People’s National Congress meeting in Alotau, Milne Bay.
Toni said Lae was a strategic port city that would act as the gateway to the highlands and Mamose regions and would be a major revenue earner for the country.
Speaking from Alotau yesterday, she said Lae had to ready itself to profit from the looming boom.
She said the impetus was to understand and meet the needs of people in the electorate in readiness for the upcoming challenges.
“There’s going to be lots of changes impacting on Lae and people of the 16 wards of Lae have to be readied to benefit from this,” she said.
Toni said one of her first tasks would be to find out the number of people in the electorate so that funding, projects and other yields could be spread evenly.