SALI TOWER COMES ON

It was a historic moment as the communication tower at Sali in North Guadalcanal came on live for the first time, and it featured the first formal phone and video calls between the caretaker Prime Minister and the landowner of Sali.

The pre- arranged phone and video calls between caretaker PM Sogavare and chief Nunuvia marked the official launching of the Sali tower.

Sali tower is the first of the 140 telecommunication towers project that government funded with resources obtained from Exim Bank with the assistance of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The contractor of the project is China Harbor Engineering Company, and the supplier of telecommunication equipment is Huawei- a partner of Solomon Telekom.

In delivering his keynote address during the launching of the Sali tower, caretaker PM Sogavare described the occasion as ‘another great day’ for citizens as the government through Solomon Islands Broadband Infrastructure Project (SINBIP) rolled out its policy to connect people together both at home and abroad.

PM Sogavare acknowledged the original landowners of Sali Tower land for offering their land and assisted the technical team to enable the tower to go live for the first time.

He further paid tribute to caretaker ministers of Communication and Aviation, and Finance and Treasury who are shareholders of the project and provide the overall guidance to the project.

The caretaker Prime Minister stated that the Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement (DCGA) is equally excited to celebrate the initiative to connect the unconnected and expand the benefits of telecommunication far and wide.

Caretaker PM Sogavare revealed that initially the plan was to construct 200 towers however due to non- committal by landowners and use of microwaves and repeaters will eventually see the construction of 140 towers at a tune of USD70 million.

The caretaker PM further stated that once the project is completed, more than 200,000 of our people will hook up to telecommunication services thereby increase nationwide coverage to more than 80 percent. The project will due in two years.

In its full rollout, services that can be accessed including e- education, e- health, e- government, e- commerce and so forth.

The caretaker Prime Minister also stated that with the project once completed will enable electronic voting in 2028.

“The DCGA Government is committed to doing things the right way and creating meaningful change and lasting benefits in a transparent and corrupt-free environment, so that our nation Solomon Islands would grow and benefit all Solomon Islanders,” caretaker PM Sogavare underscored.

The caretaker Prime Minister acknowledged Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) for supporting the government to obtain resources from the Exim Bank. He further extended the tribute to Huawei who assisted with feasibility study and for being staunch partner of Solomon Telekom.

Caretaker PM Sogavare thanked Solomon Telekom as well for partnering with the government to progress the project, citing that it is a win- win situation for telecommunication companies and people of Solomon Islands.

The towers project will be managed by a newly established Stated Owned Enterprise (SOE), the Solomon Tower Limited (STL).

-ISSUED BY OPMC PRESS-