VICE minister for mining and the member for Raicoast, Peter Sapia was on a familiarization visit to the Rabaul Volcano Observatory (RVO) in East New Britain last week.
The visit was purposely to familiarize himself with the operations of facilities under the Geo-hazards division of the Department of Mineral Policy and Geo-hazards Management Department.
Mr Sapia made his maiden visit to the province to be updated on the functions of the facility and its progress and challenges, one of which is the need for workers to be paid risk allowances, which he said he will try to push through at his level.
When commending the staff of RVO, the vice minister said employees continuously risk their lives and that of their families in this risky field of work, and often during disasters, and are missing out on risk allowances from the government.
The vice minister also assured that the secretary and his team made a submission to authorities to introduce a course at the University of PNG to upskill new officers that join the department.
He says the submission was made to the Higher Education Department and would be further discussed with the Prime Minister, James Marape.
The vice minister’s visit to East New Britain province, is the first part of his familiarization visit to institutions operating under the department’s geohazards management division around the country.
The delegation from the department also visited the Rabaul Hot Springs and the Kenabot relocation site for the new RVO set up in Kokopo town.
As part of the delegation’s visit, long serving officer and geologist Dr. Chris McKee was bid farewell during a dinner hosted by the Department in Kokopo.
Dr. McKee, who hails from Australia, began his services with the department in 1973 at the RVO and later moved to Port Moresby in 1996 and was the Acting Director of the Geohazards Management Division.