BY SAMIE WAIKORI
AUKI
THE National Government through the Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs has put forward $SBD5 million to build a youth hub (multipurpose hall) for Malaita province.
This was announced by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Women (MWYCFA), Dr Cedric Alepedava to youth bodies in the province during his visit to Auki last week.
Malaita Provincial Youth Coordinator, Francis Samo also relayed the funding support in an interview with this paper yesterday.
“The $5 million support grant was relayed to us by PS Alepedava during a dinner at Auki Lodge last week, and soon it will officially be announced.
“My office is liaising with other responsible offices within Malaita to prepare for the funding,” he said.
“One of the areas we are looking at is a suitable site for the hub which will also a government owned land and must be within the vicinity of Auki town.
“Aligegeo futsal court is one, there is another government land we applied for behind the Women Resource Centre in Auki town, we are yet to get a response,” he said.
Mr Samo said the Malaita Youth Desk has a plan to have a youth hub in the province for a long time, and the funding support will be a fulfillment of the plan.
He said the plan is to have a 50×50 metres multi-purpose hall that will also house a sporting arena for activities and accommodation.
“The plan is there and we’ll see if the fund is enough, if not we will push for additional assistance by the Malaita Provincial Government through the Provincial Capacity Development Fund (PCDF),” Samo said.
He said the Malaita provincial government through its Youth Desk is happy to learn of the support and they will ensure it materializes to support youth programs and activities in the province.
Samo said his office will provide whatever support required from them and other relevant offices and stakeholders to successfully implement the fund for the benefit of youths in the province.
