BEAUTIFUL BOGIA, MAGNIFICENT MADANG

 

Part of the newly upgraded and sealed road from Bogia town to Awar Plantation site with the Manam Island and its active volcano in the distance. Photo by Dr Kevin Pamba

BOGIA MOVING FORWARD

By Dr KEVIN PAMBA

As you drive into the small town of Bogia on Madang’s far north coast, a derelict building on the left of the road meets your eyes. The old building with the word “hotel” above its entrance immediately takes your mind back to a bygone era.

Owing to the years that passed since the last publican and his patrons stepped out, the word before “hotel” is hardly visible. A close inspection and you see the name “Bogia” appear.

On the side are the words “draught on tap”. That language takes you back to a pub or a budget hotel somewhere in country Queensland, New South Wales, or even the Port Moresby of the 1960s and 1970s.

By and large, the old hotel reminds the curious visitor about what the socio-economic composition of this small town and surrounding areas might have been all those years ago. 

There must have been something going on in this place that drove an adventurous hotelier to invest here in this rural outpost far north of the urban sprawl of the provincial capital, Madang town some four hours’ drive south.

The locals say Bogia Hotel was started by two expats and changed ownership along the way and was eventually acquired by the National Development Bank.

On Saturday December 23, 2023, the Member of Parliament for Bogia District, Robert Naguri hinted of what this small town was like in the 1970s to the 1990s when local icons like Bogia Hotel served niches.

Speaking in Tok Pisin (Papua New Guinea Pidgin), Naguri said Bogia district hosted 10 coconut and cocoa plantations that drove the local economy and supported much needed social and economic benefits to the people.

He reminisced his childhood experiences of walking with his mother to Nubia where a nucleus township spawned out of the plantation there and provided many of the services of an urban centre.

He recalled enjoying ice cream in Nubia, saying it was a town of its own, outside of Bogia supported by the plantation.

The remains of the former Bogia Hotel, a reminder of the once-thriving Bogia district economy of the past. Photo by Dr Kevin Pamba

Naguri lamented the closure of all the plantations by the turn of the new millennium, in the early 2000s, due to various reasons. As the plantations and a large cattle ranch not far inland from the township folded, out went the socio-economic benefits they provided to Bogia town and the people of the surrounding village communities.

Bogia Hotel must have been a popular watering hole and stop-over for the myriad of folks from near and as far away as Australia and Germany who had come to work in the plantations and the cattle ranch and make the place tick.

With the demise of the local agriculture economy, Bogia turned to a quintessential rural district lacking in many aspects and dependent on what Waigani could provide annually to fund its services and developments.

This is a similar fate the besieges many of the 111 districts.

Naguri, with the support of like-minded people in his district government and administration and the local communities, wants to change this Waigani-dependent persona of Bogia.

He would like to see Bogia return it to is former days of a viable district economy contributing its share to the national coffers. He wants do this by starting off with the revival of the plantations.

The first plantation that is now up for redevelopment with the support of the Marape-Rosso Government is Awar just north of Bogia town along the coast.

The Awar landowners have organized themselves by getting the title of the plantation land to their name and followed this up with a submission for funding support from the National Government through the guidance and support of Naguri’s Office and his Bogia District Development Authority.

Through the commitment of the MP, the Bogia DDA and the Awar people, the National Government committed K5 million to revive Awar Plantation.

The commitment was announced by Prime Minister James Marape when he visited Bogia and Awar and launched the revival of the plantation a couple of years ago. This commitment complements the recently upgraded and sealing of Bogia town to Awar leg of the coastal road that could one become part of a national highway linking the provinces of the northern seaboard.

Naguri was in Bogia to unveil the trucks and machinery bought with the first K1million allocation out of the K5million commitment. The equipment included a tractor, a three-ton truck, a Toyota Landcruiser utility, one portable sawmill, four chainsaws, a power generator, one compressor, four motorbikes and one Toyota Hilux twin-cab.

Bogia MP, Mr Robert Naguri being escorted to the grandstand for the launch of the equipment by the chairman of the Awar ILG and Guwagen Plantation Services Mr Arthur Leo Abo (in cap and sunglasses). Photo by Dr Kevin Pamba

The equipment will be used to clean up the old Awar plantation and have it ready for seed nursery and planting. The equipment and the start-up of the plantation is being pursued through Guwagen Plantation Services, the local people’s business arm.

Naguri praised the people of Awar for taking the initiative in organizing themselves, registering their integrated land group (ILG) and incorporating a business arm, Guwagen Plantation Services to restart Awar Plantation.

He particularly commended the efforts of two Awar leaders Joseph Basse and Arthur Leo Abo for the dedicated effort to organize their people with the believe that one day they would restart and own the plantation.

As chairman of the Guwagen ILG and Guwagen Plantation Services, Abo thanked Naguri for having faith in them and their submission for the restoration of Awar Plantation.

Abo said the organization of the people, the ILG and making a submission to the National Government through the Bogia DDA and Administration was not an easy task.

The restoration of the old plantations is a key district development focus of his district team taking cue from the “economic independence” policy of the Pangu-led government of Prime Minister James Marape.

“Namba nain praim minista bilong yumi Honourable James Marape, taim em kisim gavman long 2019 tru long vot of no confidens, emi laik Pangu Pati givim ekonomik independens long Papua Niugini.”

“Em driman bilong James Marape, Praim Minista bilong yumi”.

“So mi sanap hia em long miplela complimentim plan na driman bilong Pangu Pati, wea yumi ronim gavman nau.”

Naguri said the next one million kinas is to be allocated to start the nursery of cocoa and coconut and pay for fuel for the machinery and hire of labor. The third batch of K1 million was set aside for operational expenses of the plantation and this would be released in February.

The final two million kinas will be released by the Government after the acquittal of the first K3 million is provided with the report on the resumption of the Awar Plantation.  He said K2 million will be used to continue the operation of the plantation and monitor its performance and generation of revenue.

Bogia District anticipates the Awar plantation to harvest the first cocoa wet beans in 2027.

Some of the equipment for Awar Plantation revival assembled in the centre of Bogia town before the launch by Mr Naguri on Saturday, December 23, 2023. Photo by Dr Kevin Pamba

He said the Awar Plantation can generate around K8 million per year from cocoa alone from the 500-plus hectares of its land once it is in production.

Bogia District has the potential to generate such revenue through agriculture, tourism, fisheries, and other niche economic activities and contribute to the national purse “instead of waiting for Waigani to provide for the district all the time”.

Naguri said he aims to ensure Bogia District is a notable contributor to the national economic purse and not just a recipient of what Waigani gives.

Besides the revival of agriculture in Bogia, tourism is also high on the District agenda. They intend to take a cue from the ongoing interest of Japan and the United States of America in the remains of World War II where the Japanese had an airfield in Nubia north far from Awar and war ships used the Hansa Bay.

According to Abo, the Americans are still looking for the plane code-named “Heaven can wait”. The tourism potential of Bogia based around the WWII sites, the breath-taking natural environment and the indigenous cultures of the people, is a story for another day.