Sunday 16 August, 2020

The Prime Minister Hon. James Marape, officially launched the Daulo Civil Works by unveiling its assets in Daulo District, Eastern Highlands Province on Friday, August 14.

The assets include  two 7 tonne dump trucks, two trucks to transport fresh produce to the market and sell to other provinces and four Lucas Portable Sawmill for selective logging in the province.

The Prime Minister also advised the public that K3.5 million has been released to the District : K1 million to the Water Bung Health Centre, K2 million to the Asaro Kongi Road and K500, 000 for electricity infrastructure projects.

He asked the Member for Daulo Hon. Pogio Ghate and his administration to ensure the Health Centre is up and running so it not only serves the people of Daulo but also those who use the roads to travel through Daulo to Goroka and on to Lae, Morobe Province.

The Government further  committed K10 million over two years  to build and fix the roads in the district : K5 million for 2020 of which  K2 million has been  released, and K5 million for 2021..

Mr Marape told the people that they have two basic assets that will  not only improve their lives but also the district and the country as a whole.

“You have coffee and you have the human capital to run the coffee plantations. Therefore, do not sit down and do nothing, expecting to get things handed to you for free.

“It is not my job to give you free handouts. For example, asking government to give you K2 million to rehabilitate your plantations.

“Previous Government’s have done that and it did not work because the funds did not reach the right people or was allegedly misappropriated.”

The Prime Minister said this has also created an asking for or waiting for free handouts culture that lead to the deterioration of many agricultural projects in Daulo and also the country.

He challenged the people of Daulo to  start the work, and  leave the Government  to create markets for their fresh produce and cash crop, or it  will buy coffee at K6 per kilogram and export.

Prime Minister Marape said when the people of Daulo start going back to revive the 13 plantations and more than 300 blocks (about 5 – 10 ha) of coffee, the monetary gain will be bigger than the gain made from gambling and spending K3 everyday for 10 days to work for a wage of K350 per fortnight.

“When you gamble, you spend hours giving away more money than when you win.

“However, if you start a coffee block, you work hard and if you harvest 50 kilogram of coffee beans and sell it at K6 per kilogram, you will make K300 with no additional cost to you.

“If you harvest 10 times 50 kilograms or 20 times 50 kilogram, you will make K5000 and K6000 respectively.. You can make that kind of money in a year if you work your land.

“When you work your own land, you will make that kind of money and more with no other expenses.”

Mr Marape  also issued a  challenge to all the young men and women to go into agriculture and to stop alcohol and drug abusive and to abide by the rule of law in the district.

He said to take back PNG, it is the people who must collectively decide to work together and work hard with honesty and integrity to ‘Take Back PNG.”