Project in Alotau the biggest: MP

By AILEEN KWARAGU
THE K42 million Alotau market and fisheries facility is one of the biggest projects in the Japanese programme in PNG, Alotau MP Charles Abel says.
He said Alotau’s partnership with the Japanese incorporated cooperation agency (Jica) could be seen through its provincial market programme.
Abel said one of the key aspects of its partnership was Jica’s volunteer programme in the province which had brought about a lot of changes.
“We had young Japanese citizens that came into the province to support us in agriculture, tourism training and fisheries” he said.
“The volunteers were ambassadors of Japan and they had given the people of Milne Bay a lot of help.”
Abel said the fisheries facility and the volunteer programme brought a lot of tourists to the province.
“Papua New Guinea and Japan’s partnership goes back to WWII.
“In general, it was because of their love for diving and surfing.”
Abel said he had discussions with the economic counsellor of the Japanese Embassy, Satoshi Isono, to facilitate infrastructure in the town.
“We will facilitate the infrastructure of Alotau town, especially in the tourism sector to integrate better with cruise ship tourism,” he said.
He said before the Covid-19 hit the nation, Alotau got one cruise ship a week which had a great impact on the town.
“The province has invested K45 million into the international wharf to make cruise ship tourism possible where PNG had their first tourism loan from World Bank” Abel said.
He said there were plans to benefit Kokopo and Alotau in the first stages of tourism in the country.
Even though the town was in good shape, they had issues with the urban development plan and the management of waste disposal, Abel said.