People of Maprik owe a lot to Kapris

AS a Papua New Guinean, I support the development that brings basic services to our people in the villages so that they can enjoy the same health and education services I enjoy in an urban town.
Sadly, the reality is that in most cases, these basic services for our village people have almost become a luxury and non-existent.
I therefore salute a man who turned Maprik town in East Sepik province from a backward town, forgotten and unheard of to one that is developed, if not, the best district town in the whole of Sepik.
Gabriel Kapris put Maprik on the map, so to speak.
I remember travelling the high­way from Wewak to Maprik on many occasions before Ka­pris became the MP.
We would start our journey at 1am from Maprik and reach We-wak at about noon .
That was how bad the roads were.
After Kapris won the 2002 elections, the first thing he did was to fix the highway and bridges.
Today, you can see a sedan travelling the highway from Maprik to Wewak in less than two hours.
The development of Maprik under Kapris  brought about changes in establishing a 24-hour community radio station that could be heard as far as Karkar Island, cocoa and fermentary projects for farmers, National Development Bank branch in Maprik.
The people now have access to funding, electricity supply, health services, water supply, a new high school, economic acti-vities for women, support for  church groups, a large supermarket chain bigger than the stores in Wewak which turned Maprik into a hub business centre.
The people from Sepik River villages, Ambunti-Dreikikir and Aitape now travel to  Maprik in­stead of Wewak for basic services.

Damaris Minikula
Port Moresby