MAL welcomes new agriculture office buildings in Auki and Kirakira, strengthening provincial services with World Bank support.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) welcomes the development of two new agriculture office buildings in Malaita and Makira/Ulawa Province.
Preparatory work is currently underway to construct two modern office buildings in Auki and Kirakira funded under a partnership between MAL and the World Bank through the Solomon Islands Agriculture Rural Transformation (SIART) Project.
Permanent Secretary, Dr Samson Viulu highlighted that the development of these two new provincial offices marks a significant step in achieving the two overarching policies the Government for National Unity and Transformation (GNUT) have set for MAL and the agriculture sector in Solomon Islands.
“MAL is focused in ensuring agriculture becomes attractive in all levels of society and realize agriculture not only as the backbone of the country but also the economic backbone of Solomon Islands.
“It has become obvious that our young people are going overseas to work in the agricultural sector in other countries, and that is why we want to make the agriculture sector in Solomon Islands attractive for our people,” he said.
The Permanent Secretary stressed that MAL is not only about food production.
“It is also about making money. And in order to facilitate this overarching policy, we need to have good facilities in the provinces, which will in turn motivate our provincial officers in MAL to perform their duties as we are all aware of the challenges our officers are faced with in our provinces,” Dr Viulu said.
“For MAL, this is a big achievement and we sincerely thank the World Bank for supporting these two projects,” he added.
Currently only Isabel Province has a permanent agriculture office also situated in the provincial capital, Buala.
Once completed, the two provincial office buildings will mark a significant milestone in MAL’s continuous effort to strengthen its presence and service delivery in the provinces.
Following a competitive bidding process, two contracting companies have been awarded contracts as implementing partners for these important projects.
ATL Construction has been awarded the contract to construct the new office building in Kirakira while JQY is the contractor for the agriculture building in Auki.
Both contractors are finalizing general site setting out ready for profiling while Environmental and Social Management Plans are in place for both sites.
SOURCE: SIART Media Release
