Namatanai to set up tech college

By ELIZABETH VUVU
A TECHNICAL college is to be established in Namatanai early next year to provide specialised training for the people of New Ireland and the New Guinea Islands.
In a recent meeting, the National Education Board approved New Ireland’s submission for the Namatanai Technical College, which will cost an estimated K16 million.
Construction is expected to start in January.
New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan welcomed the board decision.
Sir Julius, a former prime minister, granted the initial approval for the technical college in Namatanai in a decision of the National Executive Council in March 1997.
But that decision was not implemented.
He said the final approval by the board cemented his vision to build capacity in the New Guinea Islands region following the destruction of the only two technical colleges in the Bougainville conflict and the Rabaul volcanic eruptions.
In a letter responding to the acting assistant secretary for technical services with the Education Department, Sir Julius said New Ireland had taken note of the conditions listed in the letter regarding counterpart contribution for realisation of the project and the provincial government would move to meet with the opening scheduled for 2013.
The province has five vocational centres and it was the plan of the provincial government to convert the Namatanai Vocational Centre into a technical college that will be relocated to the Namatanai airstrip land.
Among activities defined in the counterpart contribution, the province must secure funding for infrastructure development, appoint governing council members and provincial technical education committee, identify proposed relevant courses for the province and develop scope of works for the projects.
The education department will provide funding for teaching equipment and curriculum implementation.
The province is keen to start work on the new technical college immediately and has engaged engineers and surveyors to do scope of works and infrastructure designs.