Minister pledges to give power to rural people

Missing electricity links in Central will be looked into in the next five years, according to Minister for Communication Information Technology and Energy Sam Basil.
He told Central public servants recently that he would be working with Governor Robert Agarobe to fix missing links in the province.
Basil said his ministry had identified two missing links: Brown River to Hiritano Highway; and Kwikila to all Abau villages.
“Vision 2050 says that 70 per cent of PNG should light up,” he said.
“Nobody has done anything about high and low voltage electricity projects in the majority of our rural areas.
“My ministry aims to see high-voltage electricity delivered to most of the missing electricity links around the country.”
Basil gave examples of missing links as villages along Madang to Lae, Nadzab to Mt Hagen, and many others. “I’ve been in the field myself in more challenging environments then Central,” he said.
“I am passionate about this service.
“The people I have selected to work with are people who have been in the electrification and rural communications field for a good number of decades. They know what to do when it comes to executing such developments.”
Basil said there were cheaper options for powering houses in Central.
“In my district we invested in minimum supply kits,” he said.
“PNG Power was selling them for K750.
“We took a sample and sent it to China to be inspected.
“It has now been approved and we are buying them for K350.
“This little apparatus can be connected to any house, regardless of it being permanent, semi-permanent or of bush material.”