PM unveils billboard

PRIME Minister James Marape yesterday unveiled a billboard for the proposed Somare Peace and Unity Park in Port Moresby.
It will be constructed on the vacant block of land along the Independence Boulevard near Parliament House at Waigani.
Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare passed away in Port Moresby on Feb 26. After two weeks of national mourning, he was buried at his Kreer Heights property in Wewak.
Present at the ceremony yesterday were Somare siblings Arthur and Dulciana, National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop, Moresby North-East MP John Kaupa, Lands and Physical Planning Minister John Rosso and City Manager Bernard Kipit.
Marape thanked Parkop, the National Museum and Art Gallery and the Lands and Physical Department for making available the piece of land.
The Somare Foundation has been tasked by the Government to undertake the project. A similar project will be undertaken in Wewak later.
Marape said the park would become an institution to celebrate Sir Michael’s life.
“At the Government level, we are all in total support of what will be the continuity of the Somare influence in our country into the future,” Marape said.
“Even in his passing, he lives on.
“Somare is PNG and PNG is Somare. They are synonymous.”
Marape said the park would have a library, a monument, and a museum-like place to view the history of Sir Michael and PNG.
He plans to revive the Somare Foundation started by Sir Michael.
There will also be a national unity pillar mounted by the PNG Council of Churches along Waigani Drive.
Dulciana Somare-Brash, on behalf of the family, said that they were in awe of the commemorative efforts to continue their father’s legacy.
“This park will bring together in a spirit of unity everyone from the different provinces,” she said.
“The country was founded on the establishment of good governance and my father continued that effort.”