Yoto denies claim North Fly will split up

By ERIC PIET
NORTH Fly in Western will remain as a district, Governor Taboi Awi Yoto says.
He was responding to media reports last week quoting him on splitting the province into two, with North Fly in Western and Telefomin in West Sepik proposing for a separate province, which went viral in Western.
Yoto denied the statement, saying it did not originate from his office and should not be relied upon.
He, however, confirmed that his office is in consultation with the Boundaries Commission for creation of a few more electorates in the province due to its vastness in terms of land mass and increasing population, which according to him, were largely under-represented in parliament by the three district MPs and himself as Governor.
“I have no intention to split the province into two,” Yoto said.
“North Fly will remain as part of Western.
“Our intention however, is to create three more electorates from the existing three so that our people in the districts are fairly represented.”
According to Yoto, the process had started with the creation of seven more local level governments (LLGs) on top of the existing 14, taking the total to 21 LLGs.
“In South Fly, two LLGs have been created for the foreshore coast Kiwai and another is East Trans Fly LLG; in Middle Fly the Gogodala LLG has been split into two – Fly Gogodala and Aramia Gogodala, Lake Murray LLG now has Fly Lake LLG and Lake Murray LLG, Nomad has Nomad LLG and Bedamuni LLG and in North Fly Ningerum and Kiunga Rural have both created one each.
“These newly created LLGs will have their own council presidents after the election in April,” Yoto said.
“This is the first step we have taken in order to realise our goal for creation of three additional electorates in the province.”
He said the creation of the LLGs recently to realise long-term goal of having six electorates in the province may have been misreported by the media, which created ill feelings in the province.
Yoto has apologised for the misconception since then.
Western covers 99,300km² and is the largest province in Papua New Guinea by area.
Western is the only part of Papua New Guinea to hold land west of the 141°E line, which divides it from Indonesian Western New Guinea. This is a small section of territory bordered by the Fly River.
While the province hosts the giant Ok Tedi mine, it also had some of the untouched flora and fauna.
The Tonda Wildlife Management Area is a wetland of international importance that preserves the wildlife.