Central village opens water project

Caption: The minister opening the ceremonial tap.

Caption: Unveiling of the plaque, by (Left to Right) Stan Joyce, Minister Tony, and Paru Aihi.


By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, August 4, 2013 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)



SOUTH Pacific Brewery, in collaboration with the Rotary Club and the villagers of Mesime,  from the Kairuku-Hiri District in the Central Province,celebrated the opening of the their clean water project last week.

The pilot project was initiated through the efforts of the villagers through their former member for the district, ParuAihi, who made it possible for them to find a donor.

SP Brewery decided to invest the project to complement the efforts of the government and various partners to help assist in development  for the people.

Mesime village representative and project coordinator, Allen Miria, thanked the immense contribution of SP Brewery the major donor, and the expertise of the Rotary Group.

He also explained the great need the water project would alleviate, in enabling access to clean water for the villagers, closer to their homes.

“The project was initiated due to the heavily populated area we have, also with the settlements that are around us are also in need of safe drinking water.”

“European Union funded a water project for us; however, we did not have the capacity to maintain it,” he said.

He referred to the current project as more self-sustaining with the source being located up in the mountains and fed by pipe to the villagers.

Villagers began work on the project with them assisting the donors with K17,500 from their own pockets.

The condition agreed was that the village would provide free labour, and the donors would provide them with all the necessary materials.

“As villagers, we managed to dig up some money from our own earnings to assist SP Brewery and the Rotarians to get this project to Mesime,” he added.

Construction began in March and was completed in 74 days, using the services 1823 men from the village to lay five kilometres of piping.

Two 1000 litre tanks were place up in the mountains to store the water, and ten water collection points were placed around the village, to meet the villagers’ consumption needs.

Outgoing President of the Rotary Club, Lionel Melvin praised the project as being a model project for other places to follow.

“In my opinion, this is one of the most successful water projects that I have been involved, and it is a model project because the villagers were involved in it right from beginning,” he said.

He, however, advised them SP and Rotary should not be involved again unless they should need advice.

South Pacific Brewery General Manager, Stan Joyce, emphasised the change of focus taken by SP from its traditional support of sports and community affairs, and funding the project to the tune of K160,000.

“Our 60 years in PNG, we’ve tended to concentrate on sport and community affairs, and after our anniversary we were challenged by the board to look at some new initiatives.”

“About 90% of what is in a bottle of beer is water- that water comes from here up in the Koiari area and we’re blessed to be based in Gordons where we get water from the wonderful Sirinumu Dam with some of the best water in the world,” he pointed out.

He further elaborated on the importance of working together in partnership with the impacted communities and other stakeholders.

Minister for Community Development, Loujaya Tony, when opening the project, thanked the villagers for opening up their homes to others- all in the name of the making the access to safe drinking water a reality in their village.