Solomon Island Foreign Affairs PS signs documents in Port Moresby to start work on High Commission complex

By Clifford Fairparik

Construction of the new K7.4 million Solomon Islands High Commission office complex in Port Moresby, funded by the Papua New Guinea Government, will start soon.

The building is expected to take 12 months to be completed and will be built on prime land at Waigani.

Work was set to start after documents were signed last Friday by the SI foreign affairs secretary Barnabas Anga and the China Railway Construction company’s chief economist Ren Er Jun.

Mr Anga said during the signing ceremony at the current SI High Commission office that it was the first time SI would have its own permanent building overseas.

“Furthermore, this ceremony adds another milestone to the warm relationship we have with PNG as our closest Melanesian neighbour,” he added.

Mr Anga said the project was in line with their foreign policy on the coalition for national unity and rural advancement in that it would reduce some of their fixed costs, hence providing opportunities for their overseas missions to be cost effective in delivery of their responsibilities.

He also assured the PNG Government that they were committed to assist it to build its new High Commission chancery in the Solomon Islands.

A prime site in Honiara has already been allocated for this purpose.

Meanwhile, the China Railway construction company’s chief economist, Ren Er Jun, said the majority of the workers on the new chancery project would be locals.

Source: The National