BY ALFRED PAGEPITU
CONSTRUCTION work on the Mamara Tasivarongo project is underway ahead of a planned ground breaking ceremony tomorrow.
MTMD General Manager William Ling took the media on a visit to the project site on Tuesday.
He said the Mamara Spring Villas project will cover an approximate land area of 100 hectares and will comprise 1,184 units of residential houses, shops, 41 units of logistic warehouse, schools, utilities facilities and tourism facilities.
“Our construction is well underway and we are in the first phase of construction, we will continue to build houses.
“We are not only concentrating on housing, but on the commercial and tourism aspect and this city can accommodate sports facilities,” Ling said.
He said there are three different designs of residential buildings planed and 368 units of type A, each unit covers an approximate land area of 255 square meter.”
“310 units of type B, each unit covers an approximate land area of 202.5 square meter and 506 units of type C, each unit covers an approximate land area of 150 square meter.
Mr Ling said the first phase of the Mamara New City now provide jobs for locals who are now engaged and starting to gain knowledge and experience from their specialized overseas supervisors.
He said there are 180 expatriates and 800 locals now on the ground.
Mr Ling said that there are 10 major areas within the development plans that they will work on, which are the Administration Centre District, Business, Education, Sport Centre, Health, International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Government residential Houses, Other residential houses, High-End residential and Duty Free/ Export Processing Industrial Zone.
It is understood that a ground-breaking ceremony for the Mamara City project is set for tomorrow.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare will be the guest of honor at the ceremony.
A statement from the government said, “his presence demonstrates the government’s commitment to the project to achieve its intended purpose.
The government and the developer of the new city aim to construct more than 1,000 houses before 2023.
Meanwhile, a Council under the act that looks after the Mamara- Tasivarongo- Mavo land development has already met to deliberate on the development.
The Council approved the construction of one of the first hotels at the beachfront of Mamara to be named Mamara Spring Hotel.
It also agreed that the government will only deal with the Tandai House of Chief for any issue(s) pertaining to the development.
The new city was developed by the Metropolis Mamara Development Ltd.
It was developed under the Mamara – Tasivarongo – Mavo Development Agreement Act 1995, covering a total area of more than 1166 hectares.
The land was leased to the developer for 75 years as of 1995. The developer’s report said Twenty-two years have gone but they are confident that there’s still enough time for them to develop the site in the remaining 53 years.
A development agreement was signed by the Solomon Government and the Department of lands (Minister of land and resources) and Mamara Metropolis Pacific Limited (MPPL) on November 20, 1995.
