PRIME Minister Manasseh Sogavare is encouraging Guadalcanal Palm Oil Limited (GPPOL) to expand its current operations on Guadalcanal Province to provide more employment opportunities.
Mr Sogavare made this statement when welcoming senior executive members of GPPOL who made a courtesy call to the Prime Minister, Thursday.
The GPPOL executive was led by General Manager Noor Azam Mohd Nasir, accompanied by two senior officials.
In a statement following the visit, the Prime Minister encouraged GPPOL to expand its current operations to enable the company provide additional employment to the huge number of unskilled labour force in the country.
Mr Sogavare said the government’s collaboration with GPPOL on areas of commonalities will continue and look forward to seeing further expansion by the company.
He acknowledged that GPPOL is one of the country’s top and consistent revenue earners.
He added that GPPOL’s operation sits ideally within an area that can qualify as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) once the SEZ Bill is passed by parliament.
PM Sogavare assured the GPPOL team that once the SEZ is implemented, GPPOL will stand to gain special favours from being in a designated SEZ.
In response, GM Nasir used the occasion to update the Prime Minister on GPPOL’s existing operations.
GM Nasir assured PM that GPPOL has a lot of land for expansion and that its current plantation sits on 6,500 hectares of land.
The company is seriously thinking of increasing its operation and very thankful that the government has shown willingness to assist with the extension plans.
GM Nasir informed the PM that the company is currently operating with one mill and will require another mill should further expansion come about.
He also briefed PM on GPPOL’s interest to venture into production of by-products from palm oil into livestock feed, something that it is willing to collaborate with the national government to implement.
“Currently GPPOL employs 1,300 Solomon Islanders from all nine provinces and despite the short time spent in the country since my arrival, I am excited to see that resource and landowners of Guadalcanal are also benefiting very well from GPPOL’s operations,” GPPOL’s GM stated.
GM Nasir welcomes the opportunity to continue the discussion at the official level to expand its current operations and contribute further to the economic welfare of Solomon Islands.
Prime Minister Sogavare wishes the visiting team and GPPOL every success and looks forward to the continuing presence of the company in Solomon Islands.
GPPOL GM’s visit to Prime Minister Sogavare was his first since taking up appointment five months ago.
– OPMC
