Okay, thank you uh media coming by this afternoon. It has been a very wonderful week. The team of uh uh leaders and our works uh led by Secretary Holla and his team have uh made this week a historic week. This is the first uh this uh was or is the first big drive a group of leaders took including uh prime minister and deputy prime minister, minister of works uh close to 20 elected leaders also took the drive as well as uh all our officials and media. We successfully crossed uh Portmosby into Lelay through the fresh uh road cut which is labeled as a trans trans uh uh Nestle highway. Eventually through the cabinet processes we will name it either PNG unity highway or Pangu highway that stands for uh Nestle Union. Anyway, Pangu stands for Papua and New Guinea uh union, but uh whatever the case is the uh cabinet will sit down and go through and uh we will we will name the highway appropriately. But it it's it's in some even for me I was proposing Somar Highway. I'll just have to consult the uh consult the family. Whatever it is, it symbolizes our nation united for the first time uh through the link to our nation's capital. Our nation's capital embodies embodies the [snorts] uh uh our our national uh spirit. It sits the seat of government sits the national parliament. It's the national and supreme court. The three arms of government are headquartered here. The state house is headquartered here. but has remained one of the most isolated city uh nation's capital for from the rest of the country for the last uh uh 50 years and just 5 days short of our 50th and 10 days 5 days of our 50th I'm announcing now that it's successfully linked and uh 10 days from our 51st rather we can also announce that it was successfully crossed across the leaders who are with uh took the journey that started on our father's day and uh it symbolizes that as government we we represent uh the father or parent of the country. It is our obligation. Many of the children of our country are still locked in enclaves of uh rural uh corners of our country uh mostly on land areas. Some are still in island areas. That's our responsibility to reach out to them as a symbolic gesture to all who are still remain in the rural enclaves of our country that you are not forgotten. You are not recognized. Uh you are Papen and this government or any government that comes into the future will or must continue to make effort to reach everyone. And uh we ended our our tour of our country having passed through nine provinces uh to come back to where we started in in Port Mosby. But we ended at at the last night at around 11:00 at uh uh Hilton Heritage Hotel in Kikori. I'm wearing this deliberately just to show all of you that uh Kikori now has a modern hotel. you go in walk into Kikori uh you think that you in Port Mosby or you in Sydney or you in uh New York any of the Porsche hotels uh that's uh we now have a hotel planted in Kikori thankfully the PNG LNG Lenon with the MDC decided to do something in the own backyard but that was not possible without Kikori not being without Kikori not being connected. As you know, Kikori was connected to rest of the islands in the first ever missing link connection we did launch out on the 8th of April 2022. At the back of this, the hotel start to work upon and uh the trip was planned in a way to signal what road can do. Many thought we were doing scams and schemes. I mean you can bring your coffee and apply your trade your Facebook trade and your public stance in social media in the parliament you know talking about this sort of thing but uh just for you you know some some have never ever traveled into place like Burma Kotanga or Kiba to see nuns serving those places to see church workers working those places to see teachers walking days just to go and get the supplies and come back to teach and to see people who some have not yet seen Portmosphere yet. They live just uh by road about one or two hours if that road is good road and so it shows the rational of us making those connections because uh the end in Kikori was deliberate just to show before no road connectivity. Chigori was a town that was not a town that you know village sort of of something that left behind for so long but with the road connectivity it's now bustling. Kikor is being sealed. Uh we got the hotel there and it's now just come to life. uh Kikori I saw when I first visited Kikori for uh New Year Eve on 20 2022 is a far different Kikori that we have today and so I just want that's how a road can make a a lasting impact to lives of people when you pass through uh the Kodidanga can areas there are evidence of uh coffee [snorts] so much coffee available and the road that was cut through I did count in two hips that two hips alone uh was about 50 coffee bags and 50 coffee bag at today's price at uh one coffee bag at what one coffee >> bag 600 k >> 600 ka at 50 coffee bags there's easily 30,000 kila worth of coffee uh in in that pastor and I were driving out into Minama uh there was a young gentleman who had had in his L Grusa a pile of coffee bags and I asked him if you sell how much are you making and he said 42,000 kina and so that's just evidence on what road as we link road to where people are then the coffee the agriculture the cacao the copra the oil pump the tourism products are able to generate wealth for them wherever they are so no we haven't been engaging in scams and and uh and uh all this the last 5 years we've been trying our best to build road to where uh people are uh want to make special mention works department that road linking lay from potmosphere especially from Burma uh I beg a pardon from >> airport >> airport right down into uh >> into the junctions of Miniam and Aiki was delivered by our own works department team and you see there with the yellow outfits here. I'm hosting a special dinner for the works and I'll invite many of the stakeholders in our development partners to come in and just see what simple properties who are excavator handlers who are engineers who are out there in the remote areas can work day in day out. And now we asked them to deliver before our 51st so that this could be part of a conversation a conversation that we can do it. Uh we cannot forever remain isolated we must be linked to each other. And at Kikoria I made a punchline statement. I said even if the world doesn't come to us then a nation of 10 million people with domestic travel in and out could sufficiently cover economic activities. See people are producing from the land in agriculture in coffee. Uh people earning the land owners are moving all over the place not just to go and settle but actual moving renting hotel rooms etc. Domestic tourism is also a big uh big part of these conversations as well as external over tourists who can come here. So it's a good good uh good uh historic crossover. I felt totally uh my my uh my own personal outlook in life changed. I thought Tari was an isolated spot. Uh I was educated. Isolation still remains elsewhere. And I made a strong statement in Hagen for those of us living in highlands especially now with good road from Lelay to Hagen. We'll still work to the uh program mine area and to the PNG LNG area in terms of making sure road access to this resource areas are better for ease of transport. But as road good road has already now moved into Highlands I ask all Highlands people we will make sure the power line that we've invested in is electrified and the fiber optic that runs through. So highland highlands regions got three essential ingredients for moving fast pace towards productivity. They now have the our investment in the 132 KV line that runs from late to heights. If we can have generation and we stopped over in one of visited Kaggle with uh private investor trying to harvest energy from Kagul river that is a good river power source also. So highlands region's got possibility of reliable power uh easily within the next 5 years if we stay the course reliable power fiber optic and good highway that runs to lei or to kikori eventually we also get the road to med and I want to appeal to all highlands citizens don't be here in port just wasting time in squatter settlements uh go back home agricultural potentials access to kikori gives a faster pace vegetable produce from highlands to be marketed to pot market. So just go back home, stay and work, look after law, work that space, uh harvest your coffee, lowlands like Kami as we eventually link and others go into Kaka. Uh because therein is money. We cannot leave the 3 billion K investment in highlands in terms of power and fiber optic and road that runs through just completely not contributing back to the economy. rest of the country have seen the importance [clears throat] of Highlands Highway and we invested this. It is now our time to go strong into business and commerce and contribute back to the economy. Uh we also doing Hitano highway will run because it carries Papu LNG. Uh Hitano highway will be upgraded right into Karama and to work and feed off the road from airport on to cross over to Lelay but Hitan highway in itself will be uplifted. We have a two billion Kenya program for Maggi highway to Alatau. Yes. >> And so those living in these three highways, Highlands Highway, Heritano Highway and Maggi highway. Uh don't stay around uh I don't want to use this word but it's a hard word but I rather use don't stay around imbeiled in as far as economy is concerned. Be productive in your own land, gas house, service station, agriculture. Today I deliberately took a chopper from uh Kikori just coming back all the way to uh Potmosphere and I land on a small chopper and I flew very low. So massive land from Karama to Potmosphere and I just wonder why we have been wasting this land for so long. We have all been hypnotized with oil and gas and mining as if they have sufficient answer to all our economic needs. uh my brothers and sisters throughout PNG my generation and salesize elsewhere. The road we are doing must not be wasted. The road we are now doing must uplift the rural economy to be producing uh the products of economic value and as we grow the economy road builds the economy. Economy builds the country. It comes in that order. Road builds the economy. economy builds the country because a thruster must collect from a bigger functional economy then save the country in other space also. So in that context we've been plowing away and uh we will we will uh stepping into the 50 and beyond we will announce some revolutionary policy. I did indicate that in Hagen those who are in land area land and areas near highways or on the sides of highways >> uh the corridors if you register your land properly and uh if it is properly registered you can then be able to go go and borrow some money and we will starting 2027 subject through the uh budget and cabinet process allocate substantial resources just targeting especially agriculture and tourism. The reason is simple. Agriculture especially exportable agriculture and uh and tourism ends foreign and just like oil and gas ends foreign uh foreign uh reserves or foreign currency for us. So that will be targeted in agriculture and tourism out there is where uh the the millions of family are not in pot or mount a hagen or tar or the urban areas majority of people are still out there. When I spend a night at BMA just to see hundreds of family out there with coffee and appreciating the road they I direct them please 100,000 coffee bag they said we will do it for you. uh it shows that people are there. We we embark on these programs to get our people out there to get back into economic activities where they can. That's the intent of us punching this road throughout. Uh next month I'll be driving from uh and the team here. We will be driving from uh I thank the team here. We'll be driving from Kokapo to Kimbe just to indicate our biggest island here in the country. The road links happening while other part of the island is not yet linked [music] like the pome outside others. I will be driving from Koko to Kim all to sensize in the minds of our people that you know man or marry nothing in stable or less you got ground. >> The title land owner is not only for oil or gas or mining land owners as if you own land from your tribal land that tribal land could produce something. We want to build road to your land so that you produce something and we all contribute back to that's where the 1 million people to be employed are founded. >> Not importing space. >> You line up 10 mining companies and they will only employ up to 20,000. Pogra today employs 2,000 full-time. So 10 mining companies will not generate millions of job for us. It is a road to where the people learn and people engage in economic activities that will create the jobs and end the money and the ripple on effect. Uh so that's we we are being deliberate in this and uh we will stay the course in still opening up more country more parts of our country. I look forward to the time I'll be driving from uh I'll drive drive into Karami. The [snorts] road is happening as we speak. We're running road from Hagen to Medang as we speak. Uh we're running road inland cipic and and coastal cipic as we speak. uh uh on the district and missing link level we're running road from uh wow Karina we eventually that road will link to or province uh we will we will there's a intention to run road down south from uh from the afro road linking to Safuya Musa Valley and then come across to Moraguna and so [clears throat] all this if we stick and run they will become the main ary some human body bloody round and then this road will become the economic author of our country because people on their own land could go into tourism, forestry, agriculture etc etc. So I look forward to the time when all the all parts of our country are linked and uh we're just starting the process as we speak. James Barab may be around or may not be around but these young leaders here believe in this now. I've seen people with tears put on a smile in villages like Burma and Canaan and these memories that we had in the last travel will never be raised from us and they say many ask why take the trip the side see no s [snorts] most office will not give you the pulses of the people and it's the pulses of the people that will give you every as you sit in office every time you feel it you hear it and they speak to you every time the child that you saw uh mother that you saw and I I want to close with the mother experience with the mother up there right at the peak of the last mountain before we descended to uh to a rest this time like this getting dusky and I could see a silo it's just one you know one old lady standing as I was approaching I was driving and I pulled up see on so I had a I had a note I would not say how much I had a note on me but I had a note on me I want to pass the money to her just to reflect because he's very old. So [clears throat] anyway, I pull up mama you come and I think minister was with me in the car I drive and he was sitting on the side. So go I mean for that old woman she's probably have not seen money for some I don't know but very old feeble uh for her she refused money because she was excited that road has finally come through a place and so and so for those who run around from one hotel to another one Facebook side to another side and talk as if you have the answers for the country. I mean you can talk that's your right to talk but just put yourself in the shoes of those who still in the pockets of isolation in our country they have learned but they learn a lot we need to unlock their land so that they could be producing and contributing to the country too. Thank you much. God bless and uh thank you teamwork.