April 4, 2022
By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
Villagers along the 96km rugged Kokoda track are happy that the track has reopened for them to benefit from the ecotourism industry
The historical Second World War track that runs from Sogeri station in the Central Province to Kokoda station in Northern was closed since 2019 due to the outbreak of Coronavirus.
The closure affected the villagers’ daily livelihood as trekkers from Australia didn’t come and the villagers missed out from spin off activities like providing porter services and selling fruits to the trekkers to earn money.
The Kokoda Track Central Landowner Group Chairman, Jack Deia said that they were happy for the announcement by the two Governors of Central (Robert Agarobe) and Northern (Garry Juffa) in their recent media press statement that the Kokoda Trail will be opened in April 2022.
He reiterated that his people along the central side of the trail have suffered so much because of the of closure of the trail due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
He stated as: “My people have suffered to long because of the COVID-19 for the last 3 years and closing the track will make them suffer more and that is inhuman; the close of the trail left many jobless for the porters and guides, loss of business for the local tour operators; shutdown of service delivery in health and education and transport system. These issues have to be solved by opening the trail.”
He further appealed to the faction group that attempts to close the track because of the main issue which was the “Kokoda Track Management Authority Bill Draft” and demands was illegal and there were proper channels to address their grievances.
He said by stating that, “The Kokoda Track Management Authority Bill is a draft that will seek the views of the community at large through a number of consultative meeting and workshops before its final draft to be tabled in Parliament. At this stage it was a zero draft therefore I want to make it clear and put the fact to light that the Bill is a zero draft which is open for public view.”
