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.
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| 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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