MP opens footbridge in Central Bougainville

National
Source:
The National, Friday July 8th, 2016

A new footbridge built across the Aropa River in the South Nasioi Constituency in Central Bougainville will bring significant benefits to local communities, a entrepreneur and community leader Josephine Harepa says.
The K100,000 footbridge was opened by Central Bougainville MP and Minister for Information and Communication Technology Jimmy Miringtoro on Wednesday.
Harepa said the bridge would bring changes to the people in the area.
It will connect communities on both sides of the river.
Harepa said in the past people had to wait many hours for the floods to subside before they could cross the Aropa River.
“Crossing the river was difficult for the elderly and small children, even when the river is not flooded,” she said.
Harepa thanked Miringtoro for making funds available to build the bridge and urged people in the local communities to take ownership of the vital infrastructure.
Miringtoro said South Nasioi was an important area in terms of growing cash crops such as cocoa and coconut.
He said he would put more money into sealing roads in the area, which connected inland mountain regions and communities of the Kongara constituency. Such infrastructures will benefit everyone, he said.