Powi eager to see games succeed

BY JEFFREY ELAPA
Governor William Powi says the Southern Highlands government is committed to ensuring that there is enough funding available to host next year’s Papua New Guinea Games.
In fulfilment of its commitment, the provincial government has allocated K10 million in its 2019 budget to prepare for the games.
Powi said during a recent provincial assembly meeting in Mendi that although the province did not have the facilities in place, they were determined to build K110 million worth of infrastructure with the help of resource developers.
He said besides the K10 million, the provincial government would also allocate an additional K5 million as budgeted in 2018.
Powi said the national government’s appropriation of K2 million in the 2019 Budget indicated its support for the province to host the games.
Powi said he anticipated about K17 million to be floating around the province during the games and wanted the community to capture part of the money by building community halls and guest houses to host the visiting contingents.
He said the games would be spread across three areas — Eastern in Ialibu, Central in Mendi and Western in Nipa — as Mendi alone could not cater for the huge number of visiting athletes and officials.
Powi said they also wanted to showcase to others that Southern Highlanders were hospitable.
“We want to show we are human beings and not animals given the bad publicity we often get,” he said.
“However, our biggest challenge is building the infrastructures because we do not have the facilities.
“We will build from ground zero and we will get the support and help of Oil Search Limited, ExxonMobil, the national government and other partners to build the infrastructures.
“We want to host a successful PNG games in Southern Highlands.”