Marape: Govt wants to train welders and tradesmen

THE Government wants to train school leavers to be welders and tradesmen in the construction industry, said Prime Minister James Marape.
He said this should be done instead of bringing in foreigners for jobs local people could be trained to do.
He was alluding to the PNG LNG project construction a decade ago when thousands of foreign workers had to be hired because the country did not have trained locals.
“The Government has allocated K10million to train school leavers for jobs in the Papua LNG construction, and later, the P’ngyang LNG,” he said.
Meanwhile, Marape on Tuesday, farewelled the outgoing vice-president of Total Energies EP Asia-Pacific Javier Rielo Senior and welcomed his successor Julien Pouget.
“It was a pleasure working with Rielo and progressing the Papua LNG project,” he said.
“Since 2019, we have developed a strong rapport with Total Energies under his leadership and guidance.”
Marape welcomed Rielo’s comment that the Papua LNG project was on track with front-end-engineering and design in 2022 and the final investment decision in late 2023.
“The Government, on behalf of all stakeholders, will support developers to achieve key project milestones,” he said.