Business Momase News

Lae Port launched K800 million Tidal Basin development

The eight-hundred million kina Lae Port Tidal Basin development was officially launched yesterday (18/06/06).

The new tidal basin, berth and terminal, which are expected to be completed in 2015, will make a big contribution to the development of the Momase-Highlands region, particularly in the resources, industrial and agricultural sectors.

The Minister for Public Enterprises, Sir Mekere Morauta, yesterday officially turned the first earth for the Lae Port Tidal Basin development; an eight-hundred million kina project of national significance.

Sir Mekere says the project would be a welcome kick-start for the Highlands-Momase region, which had been neglected for the past ten years.

There are a number of very significant elements to this project. The finished product will play a major role in national development in terms of its port services, and the boost it will give to the local economy, and especially jobs for local people and local businesses.

The new tidal basin, berth and terminal, which are expected to be completed in 2015, will make a big contribution to the development of the Momase-Highlands region, particularly in the resources, industrial and agricultural sectors.

Sir Mekere said at least six-hundred extra jobs would be created during the construction phase.

Lae Port is the most important port in the country, accounting for sixty percent of the nation’s trade, and has become one of the busiest in the south-western Pacific and currently cannot meet the current demands in the various sectors.

As major resource projects start producing and construction of new ones begins, Sir Mekere says the port would have become an even greater obstacle to regional and national development without this project.

Redevelopment and expansion is urgently required so that many large regional projects, including the LNG Project, can be built on time and at a competitive cost.

The new facility will also spur other economic development in the region, including agriculture, by helping to lower the cost of taking goods to local and international markets as well as reducing the transport costs of inputs.

Sir Mekere says he is pleased to see that government’s efforts to ensure local participation have borne fruit already, where local contractors and landowners and their equipment’s have been employed to help prepare the site.

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