O’Neill Congratulates Stakeholders Involved In Phase 1 of Lae Port

The Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill has congratulated stakeholders involved in the work undertaken to complete Phase 1 of the Lae Port (Tidal Basin Project).

Mr. O’Neill extended his congratulation to the contractor, China Harbour Engineering Co. (PNG) Limited, the landowners, Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC), PNG Ports and all the people who were involved in the project.

He said Phase 1 of the project was delivered ahead of time and under budget and that cabinet has also approved the start of Phase 2. The Prime Minister said the opening of Phase 1 of the new port in the Lae Tidal Basin on 18 December 2014 was a very important occasion for the country.

“This is another demonstration of our ability as a country, as a government, as a community and as people to deliver world class infrastructure,” Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said.

“As many of you know, our government has made infrastructure development a priority, and this is another major piece of our national infrastructure that will serve the people of Papua New Guinea.”

Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said the port will benefit not only the people of Morobe Province, it will also serve people in the Highland provinces who get their goods freighted to the port then up to the highlands by road. Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said landowners of the tidal basin will also benefit through opportunities such as stevedoring as did landowners of the old port, and more broadly thousands of additional jobs would be created.

“When fully operational, this port will create new jobs and related opportunities for over 5,000 people - with projections of this reaching 10,000 as port business increases in the coming years.” Currently around 55 vessels call into Lae port each month and this will increase substantially with the wharf extension, generating increased revenue through pilotage, wharfage and berthage revenue streams. This means more larger vessels, heavier machinery and increased throughput to meet the growing economy in the country as well as the Asia/Pacific region.

The trade forecast for the coming year is for the movement of over:

- 130,000 containers for international shipping.

- Over 56,000 domestic containers.

- Break-bulk and Liquid Bulk movement to be over one Million Revenue Tonnes.