BY TABITHA WOSSE - PNG University of Technology
The PNG University of Technology’s K17.5m new dining hall project was officially launched by the Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Hon. Wesley Raminai during the ground-breaking ceremony held last Friday at the Taraka Campus in Lae.
The K17.5m project will be the biggest state-of-art dining hall project and will house modern kitchen facilities that can cater for up to 800 people at one time.
Minister Raminai said the University will have one of the best dining halls in the county and urged students to take good care of the new dining hall once complete so students who come after the will also use it.
PNGUOT Vice Chancellor Dr. Ora Renagi expressed great delight on behalf of the University Council and senior management that the construction of the mess was finally happening after five years.
He requested that the University’s Project Office and contractor Regional Engineering and Construction (REC) management to deliver a complete project within the project’s 14-month timeframe.
“I want my students to enjoy a modern facility where they not only have dinner and runaway again but find it a place conducive to chat and study as well,” he said.”
“The new dining hall will create a conducive learning environment with open communication between staff and students.”
“On behalf of the University Council and management, I thank the government for their commitment made to the University in a big way,” Dr. Renagi added.
This building is designed to have a dining hall, a restaurant and coffee shop with WiFi access where both staff and students will use to dine in, enjoy a cup of coffee and use to interact and study in.
The new dining hall will be built in place of the former student mess that was burnt on June 26, 2016 during a student unrest.
Vice Chancellor Renagi said the University has other projects that are still in the pipeline including 20 new staff houses that will be supported by the Marape-Basil government through PIP funding, the Library Retrofit project to improve our library services to modern levels and a mutli-purpose hall that the University must secure funding to build.
“The focus is there to create a study environment for both students and staff,” he said.
Source : PNG UNITECH
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