WEWAK STADIUM

* Work starts on Prince Charles Oval *

By GABRIEL FITO
THE ball has started rolling for the construction of the first state of the art sports stadium in Papua New Guinea, funded by the people and government of China.
A ground breaking ceremony to mark the start of the first scope of work for the stadium at Prince Charles Oval was performed by Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare on Saturday in the presence of the Chinese ambassador to PNG Wei Ruixing and a Chinese technical team on site, Finance and Treasury Minister Patrick Pruaitch, Wewak Open MP Jimmy Simatab and the people of East Sepik province.
Sir Michael, who delivered the keynote address, said the stadium was a wonderful gesture from the government and people of China to his Sepik people, who had supported him through his political career to establish bilateral relations with China in 1976.
He said his people and the people of Papua New Guinea in general were now benefiting from that relations he established.
“PNG and China had developed this good relationship over the years culminating in billions of dollars in aid and trade,” he said.
“The Chinese government provides aid of US$1.3 billion (K3.4 billion) annually to developing countries in the Pacific,” he said.
“The stadium is part of this aid package to Papua New Guinea, particularly the Sepik people on the eve of PNG’s Independence Day celebrations.”
Sir Michael said the people of East Sepik were very privileged to receive a special gift from the Chinese government besides the already established stadiums in Port Moresby and Lae, which are useful in promoting and developing sports among the people.
The Chinese ambassador said besides infrastructure development, China also supported PNG’s education, health, social and economic development sectors.
He said more Chinese enterprises including the Ramu nickel project in Madang were now established in PNG to complement the bilateral relations the two countries enjoyed.
The ambassador also congratulated Sir Michael on his 40 years in politics, adding he was not only the founding father of PNG, but a great leader, who was guiding his country through the challenging road of development and prosperity.