Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Kandrian-Gloucester no mean feat



Kandrian-Gloucester MP Joseph Lelang says bringing services into his remote and isolated district is one of the most-unenviable tasks he has to do.
“Kandrian-Gloucester district is very isolated and is remote,” he said recently after signing a communication towers agreement with National Broadcasting Commission managing director Memafu Kapera.
Kandrian-Gloucester MP Joseph Lelang speaking to reporters


“There is no road from Kandrian to Kimbe, the provincial capital of West New Britain.
“Kandrian faces Oro and Milne Bay provinces, so if I want to go to Kimbe, I have to take an eight-hour boat ride to the border with East New Britain at Pomio, and take a vehicle from there across five or six rivers, drive for six to eight hours to Talasea, and go from there to Kimbe.
“If I want to travel the other way, to Gloucester, I have to travel past the Siassi islands in Morobe, overnight at a place called Garu, and then travel through the oil palm blocks at Mosa into Kimbe.
“It’s very, very long, it’s very, very tough.
“A lot of public servants can’t go into the district because there’s no light, there’s no shopping light, there’s no wholesale, there’s no service station, there’s no fuel depot, everybody doesn’t want to have anything to do with that particular electorate.
“And yet, it’s one of the most-beautiful districts in this entire country.
“The people there still have the old ways with them.
“They don’t have the rottenness and decay of urban life.”
Lelang said the popular phrase “Pasin West” referred to the traditional hospitality of the Kandrian-Gloucester people.
“They face a lot of problems, particularly associated with heavy rain,” he said.

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