By Stanley Ove Jnr – EMTV News, Port Moresby
Part of the West Sepik Five-Year Development Plan, border development, and trade will be one of the main economic drivers for the Province.
While the plan centres on building infrastructure, there are plans in place to build a trade centre at the Wutung border post. This comes after many years of discussion around the topic of border trade and development, which has seen PNG not fully benefiting from it.
“One of our main focuses for economic growth is to build a trade centre at the Wutung border post. We’re trying to benefit from the Wutung to Indonesia road once it opens,” said Provincial Administrator, Conrad Tilau.
Mr. Tilau said there are also talks with the Indonesia City of Jayapura for tourism opportunities.
“We have a vibrant relationship with Jayapura. Through bilateral meetings, we’re working on an MoU for tourism development on the border,” Tilau said.
Moreover, the onus will be on the National Government to support this through funding. National Planning Secretary, Konie Samuel, said donor partners have invested into border development and other key sectors in the Province.
“We’ve developed the ‘Pilot Border Trade and Investment Development Project’ under the ADB. These partners will help develop the cause of the Medium Term Development Plans (MTDPs) which will lead to providing support for the different sectors in the Province,” Samuel stated.
