District to benefit from electricity programme

MINISTER for Environment and Conservation and Daulo Open MP Hon Simo Kilepa is determined to connect the Daulo District in Eastern Highlands Province with reliable electricity supply under the PNG Electrification Partnership (PEP) Activity Programme fully funded by the United States of America Aid (US AID).The first term MP plans to connect his district with reliable electricity supply as it will boost internal generating economic activities and better alleviate poverty in rural areas of concern in his district and Eastern Highlands Province as a whole.Kilpea said that he held talks with senior executives of the USAID PEP Team concerning the planned off-grid electrification project.He is plan which is environmentally friendly positively reflects the Environment and Conservation ministerial portfolio he is leading in the Marape-Rosso Cabinet.After his discussions Kilpea said that his district will prioritise Clean Renewable Energy alternatives which is specifically priotised under Solar Energy and Hydro Electricity respectively.Kilepa confirmed that this is a Public Private Partnership Programme where USAID is providing technical support in partnership with district and provincial governments for the purpose of project fundings.According to the US AID PEP Activity Programme, only about 13% of Papua New Guinea’s total population has reliable access to electricity which is a major developmental obstacle. The US AID PEP Activity is a developmental initiative to focus on the accessibility of electricity to rural areas which was made possible during the 2018 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit in Port Moresby when the United States (US), Australia, Japan, and New Zealand, entered into the PNG Electricity Partnership (PEP), which aims to increase PNG’s electricity access to 70 percent by 2030.Minister Kilepa is committed to ensure the people of Daulo District have reliable electricity supply using Clean Renewable Energy methods of generating electricity.