Pomio enjoys new market facilities

THE women and people of East Pomio in East New Britain rejoiced as they witnessed the opening of the district’s new market at Toll last week.
It was a special occasion as it was the first time they had two permanent buildings with iron roofing, concrete flooring and concrete benches from where to sell their produce.
The market will have a wash basin for vendors to wash hands, food stuff for selling and toilet facilities.
The market is part of the previous government funded district market programme that will complement the new Toll Growth Centre in Pomio.
Pomio MP Paul Tiensten said the Toll Centre laid the foundation for the economic corridor concept that would drive development into rural areas.
He said the major agro-forestry projects in the Pomio area, including Tzen Oil Palm, Memalo and Illi-Wawas agro-forestry, were key projects that would drive the socio-economic landscape of such rural areas.
“Rural people working with oil palm have money in their pockets and the market provides another opportunity for fishermen and villagers as another source of income.”
Tiensten said the government had a very limited resource envelop to spread across the country and the way forward was through public private partnership with a private sector driven growth centres that would open up the country.
Tiensten said infrastructure development taking place there included the construction of the K2 million water supply, the construction of a K8 million wharf, the women’s resource centre, VSat satellite system, police station, a primary school and a community college.