**** Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill makes first official visit to Hela ****

Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill is set to be given a red carpet welcome at Tari airport and a guard of honour as he begins his two-day visit to Hela Province.

Already, there is a hype of activities and excitement on the ground to receive the Prime Minister and his delegation as this is the PM’s first official visit to the province.

Hundreds of Hela people are set to flock the Andaija Oval in Tari today when the Prime Minister launches several projects.

Finance Minister James Marape, who is Tari-Pori MP, said yesterday he would like to welcome the Prime Minister and visiting dignitaries to Tari today and requested the people of Hela to receive them warmly with open hearts.

It is believed that the Prime Minister will announce a multimillion kina road sealing contract from Komo to Tari, Tari to Koroba, and Tari to Mendi, all along these sections of the Highlands Highway that has never been sealed despite serving the oil and gas project in the two provinces.

On this occasion, PNG Power will sign an MOA with Oil Search to generate more than 20 megawatts of electricity in Hides. It is believed that PM will also direct power grid to be built concurrently with the road to give electricity to two provinces, with access fed into the Highlands grid.

Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill and his delegation which include cabinet Ministers will spend Thursday in Koroba opening the district office and later in the afternoon address the LNG area and people in Komo station.

He may fly out from Komo airport in an F100 aircraft, indicating that the airport can handle bigger commercial aircraft to serve Hela and Southern Highlands Provinces.

Minister Marape appealed to the people of Hela to embrace this moment as a wind of change blowing.

"I thank our Prime Minister for coming and what a way to start our quest for development after 40 years of struggle." Marape said.