THE dream of closing the development gap has begun to take shape for the people of Navatusila in Navosa with the commissioning of their portable sawmill in Mare Village by Minister for Fisheries and Forests Osea Naiqamu on Wednesday.
They were excited and thankful to the Government and its officials for the great contribution that would now ease their struggle, as the villagers look for better standard of living.
Mr Naiqamu stated Naviaraki Investments Ltd, based in Mare, would spearhead all operations and in turn enable resource owners to be more independent and self sufficient.
He urged the people of the tikina Navatusila that the sawmill must be used to its fullest potential.
They were reminded to utilise it in a sustainable manner.
Mr Naiqamu said the portable sawmill was a community-driven initiative and well linked to the Forest Policy 2007 which empowered resource owners to participate in the forestry business.
He said he was aware that resource owners from the district were well acquainted with native logging and had other experiences with other privately-managed businesses.
He said it was from those past experiences that many past companies had exploited and cheated resource owners regarding allocated prices for the resources and the money paid to resource owners.
Speaking to this newspaper from Mare Village, headman Maikeli Vereimi said they would have not realised how they had been misled over the years if government officials had not arrived there.
He said this would open up job opportunities for them.
He said government initiatives like this gave rural dwellers the opportunity to close the wide gap of development compared with urban dwellers.
He added that they have also been informed that six young men from their village would attend a one-year training program that would equip them with necessary skills to turn “shorts” (small pieces of timber) into furniture.
Mr Vereimi said they would expect a huge change in terms of development in their district.
He said this had encouraged others in their province to turn away from planting marijuana as a source of living and look to make good use of their resources, the forests.
