Caretaker PM: “SIPA an example of Resilience and Unity.”

 

Caretaker Prime Minister Manasseh Damukana Sogavare hails Solomon Islands Ports Authority as a classic example of resilience and Unity.

Caretaker Prime Minister Sogavare was SIPA’s chief guest at today’s new Jetty commissioning ceremony at the Honiara Domestic terminal.

The new jetty bears the name ‘WATE JETTY.’

“Let me first congratulate the Chairman and Board of Solomon Islands Ports Authority (SIPA), the Chief Executive Officer and your senior management team and your staff for responding to the need to provide much needed service for our people by building Wate Jetty,” the caretaker PM stated.

Although designed by BECA Engineering, a New Zealand company, the jetty is fully funded and constructed by SIPA.

The new longest and widest Jetty in Honiara will certainly improve pick-ups and drops-offs and ensure quick turnaround time for passengers and vessels, he said.

The jetty is also designed to cater for people with special needs.

The caretaker PM adds, this is a demonstration that SIPA is self-sufficient and can build its own infrastructures.

During the last four years in office, Manasseh Sogavare has attended several commissioning of infrastructures built by the Solomon Islands Ports Authority.

“You have performed beyond expectation. I think you must be the leading State-Owned Enterprise in building infrastructure within your jurisdiction to serve our people. I know that many will agree with me that over the last four years Honiara Port has been transformed with significant facelift, a fact we are all witness to, and this is just another chapter of this magnificent transformation.”

Among these achievements are;

• Commissioning of the LED lighting and CCTV Surveillance system in 2019, the first of its kind in the region.
• New Harbor and Enforcement Building and new International Terminal Entry overhead Gatehouse.
• Honiara Port facelift.
• SIPA discharges its function under the Ports Act- Solomon Islands is the first country in the Pacific to deploy a Watchkeeper Buoy.
• Wining the ‘International Association of Ports Harbours’ Sustainability Awards 2022 in Vancouver, Canada.
• Successful hosting of the 45th Pacific Maritime Transport Alliance (PMTA) Conference 2023 in Honiara.
• Silver sponsor partner of the recent Pacific Games.

The caretaker Prime Minister emphasised, the Unity Square has become a landmark feature in Honiara City and has hosted numerous social and cultural activities…. “Every morning when we go to work, we see our flag flying proudly in the wind, a constant reminder of our unity as one people and duty as citizens of this beloved country. It reminds us of our national motto, To lead is to Serve”.

Congratulating the Board, Chief Executive Officer, management team and staff caretaker PM reiterated that SIPA is a good example of resilience perseverance and unity.

Ends///.