A ground breaking ceremony took place recently at the Afore Station in the Ijivitari District of Northern Province to launch the 1st phase of a road construction project by Member for Ijivitari Richard Masere and Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, John Simon.
“Roads have been a vital link between rural and urban settings and have made the flow of service delivery to the rural areas more efficient,” said Mr Masere.
However, he said this has not been the case for most rural areas in PNG where roads are deteriorating and service delivery to most parts of the rural areas have been ceased due to the poor road conditions.
“The first phase will see road construction and upgrade from Afore Station to Sakarina Village at a total cost of K500, 000.00 from a partnership program between Ijivitari District Development Authority and the Department of Agriculture and livestock”, Masere added.
During the ground breaking ceremony, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, John Simon donated a total of K100, 000 as an initial payment of a K1million commitment to subsidize the coffee price for coffee farmers in the Afore LLG.
Mr Simon said Afore LLG is no different from most rural areas in PNG and the people’s money must be put to a good use especially those in the rural areas like Afore.
Member for Ijivitari Richard Masere thanked the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock for this vital support to assist the farmers with a road upgrade which will see them taking their produce into town to sell.
Construction work for the second phase of this project will be begin from Sakarina to Itokama once funds have been made available.