Provincial government subsidises airfares

 A TOTAL of K1 million has been paid to Air Niugini to subsidise costs of flights into Enga, Governor Peter Ipatas said.

Ipatas said the subsidy was for village people who did not have the resources to travel to Western Highlands to get on the plane.

He recently gave a cheque of K300,000 tow the national flag carrier.

Of the K300,000, K250,000 will be used for travels for the second quarter of this year while the other K50,000 will cover last year’s outstanding balance.

Under the terms of an agreement between the parties, the Enga provincial government was expected to pay K250,000 quarterly for flights into Wapenamanda.

He said the service would benefit locals from Enga, who travelled more than two hours to Mt Hagen, to get on the Air Niugini flights.

“It gives our small village people, people who don’t have access to vehicles and money to fly out of their own province and so we see this service as important.

“If we look at the economic side of things, you could see that it can save time for public servants, politicians and business man who travel up into Mt Hagen in two and a half hours drive.

“We are pleased with this service that Air Niugini has been providing for us for many years.

“We want to show that as a government we are consistent with what we have been doing over the years.