Queensland state minister visits Bulolo

Rachael Nolan meeting a young girl in Bulolo

Queensland State Minister for Transport Rachael Nolan is on vacation visiting the Bulolo Electorate accompanied by Bulolo MP Sam Basil.

The event started last Friday when the book, Not a Poor Man's Field, was launched at 5pm in Crowne Plaza Hotel just as Nolan arrived into the country for the first time.

An early flight into Lae last Saturday saw the team having breakfast with some Morobe MPs and Morobe administration representatives.

These included Lae MP Bart Philemon Tewai-Siassi MP Vincent Michaels while others sent their apologies.

A quick visit into the Rainforest Habitat situated inside University of Technology campus saw the visiting team amazed with the bird collection.

A ‘Welcome to Bulolo’ billboard was officially unveiled by Nolam along the Warabumg area bothering the Huon Gulf electorate while occasional stops occurred along the way for the locals, who presented flowers and bilums to the minister and her team.

The billboard which was unveiled by Nolam

The Buang singsing group welcomed the party at Basil’s residence in Segayo village. Nolam was very impressed by the traditions, the different geographical surroundings and the wonderful people.

Early last Sunday morning, Nolam and her team visited the Buang limestone caves and the burial site which contains bones and some mummified bodies and later drove to the Hidden Valley min e.

The team overnighted in Wau to do the Bulldog Track into Kerema on Monday.

 Nolam and her team will use the trip as trekkers, while Basil and his administration team, including some of his joint district planning and budget priorities committee (JDP&BPC) members will use the trip as a fact-finding mission.

They will asses the impact of the bothering wards of Wau Rural local level government (LLG) of Morobe and the Kerema open in the Gulf province, which normally have easier access into Port Moresby then to Wau, Bulolo or Lae.

Nolam will take the honors in Tekadu to unveil the 12 months pre-paid charter flight from the North Coast Aviation paid for by the Bulolo District JDP&BPC at the cost of more then K100, 000.

This will see a second project initiated in the area after the installation of VSAT in Tekadu late last year which has opened up communication to the outside world.

The Tekadu airstrip is now prepared by the people themselves and ready to take airplanes back into Tekadu.

Tekadu has the highest production of buai and with the air charters it is estimated that over K6, 000 of buai trade will be opened up for the locals directly into Lae while other supplies like medical, school supplies and regular visits by the administration will be connected directly through the air charter directly into Tekadu.

Basil is strongly looking at a proposal to help pay for a new aircraft with North Coast Aviation and have all airfares and freight into Waria and Tekadu subsidised at a rate of 50%.

Negotiations are still taking place with the Bulolo MP is urging other Morobe MPs whose areas depend on air transport to be part of this proposed project.