PM opens Wewak stadium

THE pride of the Sepik people, the Sir Michael T Somare Stadium was officially opened by the Prime Minster Sir Michael Somare in his hometown of Wewak, East Sepik, last Thursday.
The opening coincided with the country’s 35th independence anniversary celebrations.
The stadium, which is a gift from the government and people of China, was handed over to the people of East Sepik by the then Chinese ambassador to PNG, Wei Ruixing early this year at the completion of construction work.
A total of K12 million was made available by the Chinese government for the construction works which was carried out by Shandong International, a  construction company in China.
The PNG government made available K7 million under the counterpart funding for refurbishment works which will also see the extension of the current 300m athletic track by another 100m to conform to international standard.
Sir Michael commended the government and people of China for the relationship that existed between his province and the Shandong province of China which had now enabled his people to have a proper stadium to host local, regional and international events.
Sir Michael said with the stadium, the people of East Sepik could now invite other provinces to participate in sporting events and foster relations not only with other provinces but people in the regions and other parts of the world.
The prime minister called on the people of East Sepik to take ownership of the stadium and look after it so that it would serve them for many years to come.
He also urged all Sepiks to show the love of Christ to others with no form of discrimination against people from other provinces so that they work together to foster growth and development of the East Sepik.
Sir Michael said plans were also underway for the construction of a museum and a cultural centre so that East Sepik would become the tourism attraction centre of PNG.