Plans to establish lime, cement plant welcomed

By ZACHERY PER
The TWO biggest tribes at the foot of Mt Elimbari in Chimbu have embraced the Government’s initiative to establish a new lime and cement processing plant in the area.
The Mam and Duma tribes welcomed a high-level Government delegation at Goiri limestone site for a preliminary consultative meeting to establish a lime-processing plant.
Spokesmen from both tribes welcomed the initiative of Chuave MP and Minister for Commerce and Industry Wera Mori, pictured, in pushing for the limestone project to progress further.
The leaders also thanked Prime Minister Peter O’Neill for releasing an initial seed capital of K5 million through the Public Investment Programme (PIP) to set up the project.
They acknowledged the bold move by Mori, who led the delegation comprising representatives from Finance, National Planning and Monitoring, Treasury, Mineral Resource Authority (MRA) and Commerce and Trade departments.
An earlier move by the Chimbu government to develop limestone in Elimbari failed and millions of kina were wasted.
Mori said he had already set up a project steering committee. It has already started preliminary work already and will assist landowners to set up integrated land groups (ILGs), do social mapping and other necessary requirements.
Mori said landowners would be given special consideration to get maximum benefits in terms of spin-offs, sub-contracts, employment and other benefits.
Mori said they would use the first K5 million to purchase equipment, vehicles and build a project site office and a five mega-watt solar electricity plant.