Prime Minister Peter O'Neill visits Hela Province

Prime Minister  Peter O’Neill  arrived in Hela Province and was given a a red carpet welcome at Tari airport and a guard of honour as he began his two-day visit to Hela Province.

Hundreds of Hela people  flocked the Andaija Oval in Tari  when the Prime Minister launched several projects.

Finance Minister James Marape, who is Tari-Pori MP, met and  welcomed  the Prime Minister and his visiting dignitaries.

Upon arrival Prime Minister announced a multimillion kina road sealing contract from Komo to Tari, Tari to Koroba, and Tari to Mendi, all along these sections of the Highlands Highway that has never been sealed despite serving the oil and gas project in the two provinces.

During the next two days,  PNG Power will sign an MOA with Oil Search to generate more than 20 megawatts of electricity in Hides. It is believed that PM will also direct power grid to be built concurrently with the road to give electricity to two provinces, with access fed into the Highlands grid.

Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill and his delegation which include cabinet Ministers will spend Thursday in Koroba opening the district office and later in the afternoon address the LNG area and people in Komo station.

He may fly out from Komo airport in an F100 aircraft, indicating that the airport can handle bigger commercial aircraft to serve Hela and Southern Highlands Provinces.

Minister Marape appealed to the people of Hela to embrace this moment as a wind of change blowing.

"I thank our Prime Minister for coming and what a way to start our quest for development after 40 years of struggle." Marape said.