Lealea receives K234,000 hall

The National Papua

ExxonMobil PNG Ltd on Thursday handed over keys to a new community hall for the Lealea village near the PNG LNG plant site in Central.
“This community hall exemplifies what it means to work in partnership with our neighbours,” LNG plant superintendent Al Sandoval said.
The K234,000 hall will be an important place for the Lealea community to meet and hold community events.
Amongst other activities, the hall will be used for sessions by the Buria Village Court and its 13 magistrates from Papa and Lealea villages.
Currently, court sessions are held at the ExxonMobil PNG-funded Lealea fish market which will be returned to the fishermen.
Sandoval said the company was delighted to work with the Lealea community to provide an important resource for community activities and events.
“Working with you to identify your need, designing the building and all the way through to construction by a local company providing jobs for local people, together we have delivered an important resource which will benefit the whole,” he said.
Lealea village councillor Billy Tai expressed appreciation for the new hall and assured ExxonMobil PNG that they would look after and use it for the benefit of everyone.
“We will now have our weekly village court sessions in a new building. This will alleviate and address many law and order, and social issues that we are facing in the village,” Tai said.
The hall is the first of a number of major infrastructure projects to be handed over which ExxonMobil PNG has been working on with project area communities last year.
In the coming weeks the company will hand over a new women’s resource centre at Boera village and a new double classroom for Papa Community Pre-School in Central.
A double classroom for Kikori Primary School in Gulf, a fully refurbished sub health centre in Baguale, Southern Highlands, and 11 refurbished classrooms for Juni Primary School in Hela will also be opened.
In total, ExxonMobil PNG spent K2,264,000 last year on building new infrastructure or refurbishing existing community facilities in PNG LNG project areas.