MINISTER for Transport and Member for Goilala William Samb has requested for fair distribution of resources especially for the maritime sector.
This follows series of questions raised by Member for Kiriwina-Goodenough Dougals Tomuriesa in Parliament regarding the Jomard Passage and the international routes his electorate accommodates.
Mr Tomuriesa also asked if navigational and monitoring equipment can be installed in these waters because of high incidents of missing boats during rough weather conditions.
Minister Samb concurred with the MP who spoke of the importance of the Milne Bay waters which is an international highway for vessels of all types.
Minister Samb in his response said, the national government has endorsed the approval to declare Jomard Passage which is between Louisiade Archipelago and the New Guinea Islands which connects the Solomon and Coral Seas a compulsory pilotage area.
He told Parliament that he has advised National Maritime Safety Authority to plot out the actual entry and exit of this passage in order to deal with the stakeholders in the vicinity accordingly.
Minister Samb said his Department had launched its Transport Plan in which two important programs associated with maritime were identified.
“These two programs were jetties and vessels, there is some funding available and we are working closely with the Department of Treasury to get that rolled out basically for vessels and jetty programs respectively.
Minister Samb said for infrastructure wise, NMSA (National Maritime Safety Authority) through a partnership with Asian Development Bank (ADB) have rolled out Navaids from Sandaun to Milne Bay and Western provinces.
He said all of these were part of the National Transport Program, however due to funding; erection of such infrastructure was on pending.
Meanwhile, Minister Samb has called on all MBP MPs to work together to get the Jomard Passage agenda over and done with.