The Japan Development Institute (JDI) team of experts and the local consultants led by Minister for International Trade and Investment, Hon. Richard Maru arrived in Vanimo yesterday afternoon. They were received at the airport by Governor for Sandaun, Hon. Tony Wouwou and the members of the Sandaun Provincial Administration. The team is in the province as part of their familiarization visits to identified potential Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the country to help formulate Papua New Guinea’s SEZ Masterplan. Vanimo is one of the 18 identified potential SEZ location in the country. It is located at the border of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Indonesia.
“Sandaun is an agriculture province; they grow palm oil, cocoa, coffee and and and of the biggest producers of timber too, however, the province has not tapped into the market opportunity on the other side (Indonesia) which has 273 million people with an economy that is growing consistently at over 5% per annum,” said Minister Maru.
“Our government is working towards getting air services between our two countries as soon as possible, hence the building of the new terminal and extension of the runway to prepare the province for direct flights from Indonesia. However, we do not have a town water supply here in Vanimo, no international wharf, no international airport and no industrial park. These are critical enablers that will capacitate Vanimo to be a major border industrial town. The government had only agreed to start building the water supply system at the cost of K40 million. There is even no powerline to the border at Wutung; we need to do that quite quickly. This will allow much cheap and reliable electricity supplies from Indonesia,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru, during the welcome dinner hosted by the Sandaun Provincial Administration urged the Sandaun Provincial Government to not wait for the National Government to deliver these essential services to the province.
“You have to take ownership and fund some of these essential services, like getting the powerline down to Wutung. When I was the Minister for National Planning and Monitoring, I released funds to PNG Power Limited to get the powerlines to Wutung but they had not done that so do not wait for them; do it as part of your commitment. You also need to identify the land for the industrial park where all the factories will be located to produces goods to sell to Indonesia. We cannot have a situation where only Indonesia will have goods to sell to us, we must also produce and sell to them. You must have an international airport, an international wharf and also a land which will be the export processing zone. I want you (Sandaun Provincial Government) to have a clear vision of what you want to do and the Marape-Rosso Government is here to support Sandaun to become a major economic powerhouse in the country,” said Minister Maru.
Meanwhile, the JDI expert team and the local consultants will visit some of the identified locations in the province today, including Wutung Border Post, Wharf Area, Market Area and the land proposed for Physical Development.
“While here in Sandaun, this team of experts will look at the economic potential of the province and tell us what can be done so we can build our capacity to bring in investors and talk about development and trade. Their report will help us by showing us what we need to do, not only the provincial government but the national government as well. We will use their studies and report to tell the government that the province has the potential to trade if we have the identified services available. We have been talking a lot and now it is time to make it happen,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru thanked Governor Wouwou and the Sandaun Provincial Administration for showing their interest and support, and for facilitating the team who will be travelling back to Port Moresby tomorrow to visit another identified potential SEZ location which is the Central Province Rice Zone.
