Centropolis? The lost city of PNG....
19 February 2011
BY PHILIP FITZPATRICK
THE QUICKEST WAY into the Port Moresby city centre from the airport and the outer suburbs these days is via the Poreporena Freeway.
The freeway has a sort of “Death Race 500” feel about it, especially on the downhill run.
A more leisurely method is along the old Hubert Murray Highway.
Pottering down the hill through Badili and Matirogo to Koki and then along Healey Parade and Ela Beach Road has a certain charm. I especially like the first view of the sea and the strong smell of the salt air.
There’s a wall along Healey Parade now, so you can look around without worrying about driving into the ocean. The ladies are still out there collecting shellfish at low tide.
If you look up the hill to your right, you see all the latest mansions built with money from the shonky logging deals up and down the coast. You’ll also encounter a curious sign which points to somewhere called Central City.
Follow the sign and the road leads to an abrupt end with nothing but tall grass, scrub and trees. Now what is all that about you wonder?
A couple of enquiries reveal that Central City is, or was, going to be the capital of Central Province – a sort of city within a city. What a strange idea. Why would you do that?
Talk to a few more people and the reason becomes abundantly clear.
Port Moresby might be smack in the middle of the Central Province but for many of the local people the city doesn’t belong to the province.
Who on earth does it belong to then? To the people of Papua New Guinea of course! Port Moresby is a city that belongs to the Sepiks, Keremas, Highlanders, Tolais and everyone else in Papua New Guinea. Just like Canberra belongs to the people of Australia rather than the people of New South Wales.
New South Wales has got its Sydney; Western Province has got its Daru; Gulf Province has got its Kerema; Milne Bay Province has got its Alotau; but what has Central Province got?
According to a lot of people it’s got nothing; hence Central City.
Where does it go from here? For that question I couldn’t find an answer anywhere.
Beauty and division.
I always love the winding drive down Two Mile Hill to the sea at Ela Beach. That ride and the view, the briny whiff and deep blue sparkling through the rushing wind and winking from behind tree branches, never fails to recall my childhood memories.
And for a few joyful minutes of downhill delight, everything is all right with me.
As for the capital city location - proximity to Australia?
Posted by: Icarus | 25 February 2011 at 09:09 AM
Phil - I have an answer: relocate the nation's capital to the heart of the country in the highlands. The capital of PNG should be at Arona valley in the Eastern Highlands Province.
This very issue of the capital was first mooted in the mid-1980s. But successive administrations have been too busy with day-to-day problems to discuss it in Parliament and make a bipartisan decision to do it.
The Arona valley is where the Yonki Dam power station is situated and it powers the whole of the Highlands with electricity.
Arona is a very good location for a future capital. The people are peaceful in nature but have not seen much real improvement in their lives, even though the power station is on their land. The new capital there will see the Arona valley people at last enjoy some real benefits of development of PNG.
Once PNG's capital is relocated to the heart of the country, Port Moresby will become the new capital of Central Province. Central City will just be a memory in the past.
Posted by: Reginald Renagi | 20 February 2011 at 10:41 PM