Thousands meet Prime Minister Peter O'Neill

Thousands of Hela people gathered in unison in Tari, Koroba and Komo during the past two days to receive the Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill on his historic visit to the resource-rich province.
The Hela populace, known for their tribal warfare and disputes, rose to the occasion in unity and in numbers as they put aside their tribal, political, cultural and domestic disputes to welcome Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill and his high-profile entourage to the new province that is still affected by the lack of basic government goods and services despite oil and gas extracted from the area for over 30 years.
The occasion really belonged to the women and school children who braved the scorching El Nino midday heat and turned up in numbers to get a glimpse of and hear Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill, who happens to be from the neighbouring Ialibu-Pangia district in Southern Highlands Province, speak.
Hela men and women, old and young, able and disabled, joined in chorus to chant "Welcome O’Neill" from the colourful welcome reception at Tari airport on Wednesday to the farewell at Komo LNG international airport on Air Niugini’s maiden Fokker 100 flight to Hela yesterday afternoon.
Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill commended Komo-Margarima MP Francis Potape, Koroba-Lake Kopiago MP Phillip Undialu and Tari-Pori MP and Finance Minister James Marape for working hard to serve their people. Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill assured landowners of the US$20 billion PNG LNG project that their benefits are well and truly secured and safe.
He said their benefits would be paid when the National Court mitigated alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process to identify landowners are complete.