The Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement (DCGA) is moving towards setting up a more robust and structured border security management approach.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare announced this during Wednesday’s Border and Patrol Boat Outpost groundbreaking ceremony at Lofung in the Shortland Island, Western Province.
The Multi-million-dollar Australian funded project provides much needed facilities to implement the Government’s national border security policy.
Communities living along the Solomon Islands-PNG maritime border including the shortland Islands, Choiseul and Malaita Outer Islands have been wishing for a proper border management approach in past years, which Prime Minister Sogavare said past Governments have tried to address.
“My fellow people of the Shortland Islands, I am aware that your cry for a strong border security is not a new call, and your call is the same as those resonated by Choiseul and Malaita Outer Islands”.
“It is a call that has not gone unnoticed, and for so many governments past, we have tried to see what we could do to address this call,” he said.
The Prime Minister explained that Solomon Islands as a developing country with finite financial resources have to prioritize its policy and development needs, however, the need to secure our borders was always a main issue of concern.
Sogavare announced that the DCGA is tackling that concern head on with the projects once completed and will no longer rely heavily on border police posts.
”With the establishment of the Border and Patrol Boat Outpost, I am pleased to announce that we are now moving towards a more robust, structured and established border security management approach, he said at Nila.
The Prime Minister participated at the Groundbreaking ceremony alongside the Australian High Commissioner to Solomon Islands Dr, Lachlan Strahan, the MP for the Shortland Constituency Hon, Christopher Laore, Police Minister Anthony Veke, Western Premier David Gina and Chairman of the FAMOA Council of Chiefs and Trust Board Lawrence Hotomo at a ceremony at Lofung on Wednesday 23 June in the presence of people from all over the Shortland Islands.
–GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION UNIT.
