07 March 2022

Steamships was present at the commissioning of the Barakau Sanitation Project at Barakau Village on Monday 7 March 2022. The project was in partnership with Sago Network. A ceremony was hosted at the Community Aid Post in the presence of Steamships Board Directors, Sago Network Executives and Barakau Village Councillors.

Caption: Steamships MD Rupert Bray and Barakau Village Councillor Rocky Douveri, after cutting the ribbon to commission the Sago Dry Toilet at the Barakau village aid post

The project was funded from the Steamships Community Grants Program at a total of 195,890 to deliver 9 Sago Dry Toilets for Barakau Village. Sago Network worked in close community consultation to identify sites, design and build these units. Each of the families where the toilets are located has received education and awareness training for ongoing use, care, and maintenance. Support partners include Hiri Local Level Government, Legacy Group, NABS Construction and Maintenance, KK Kingston and Badili Hardware.

The toilets were designed by the Sago Network team in Sydney and Port Moresby in conjunction with Unitech and support from Consort Express Lines (CEL) to ensure that the units were robust enough to withstand cyclonic winds and be cost-efficient. The implemented project model required financial buy-in from the community, thus it was important to consider this as well as environmental factors.

Caption: The Sago Dry Toilet Commissioned at Barakau village aid post. There are a total of 9 sago dry toilets spread throughout the village.

Steamships Managing Director Rupert Bray said ‘Education and health are two pillars of the Steamships community grants program and indeed our larger Sustainable Development focuses areas. The importance of proper sanitation cannot be overstated for education and health within communities. Sanitation is more than just toilets – it is about behaviours, facilities and services that together provide a hygienic environment for communities and particularly children allowing them to fight diseases and grow up healthy”

Sago Network Director, Ms Rosemary Korawali said that ‘Today eight (8) extended families comprising of 120 people including a village community of 5000+ people who will access the aid post, will benefit from improved sanitation which will reduce instances of sickness such as diarrhoea and dysentery. Through these families, education around sanitation practices adopted by the community will have a direct positive flow-on effect at a village household level. At a wider level, Barakau serves as a representative village for many of PNG’s coastal villages and is reflective of a village community that has taken ownership of their health by improving their sanitation practices.

Caption: Steamships Board Directors inspecting another site at Barakau Village.

Ms Imelda Torie, Sago Network Project Manager added, ‘The completion of the sanitation programme in Barakau today, represents one of the first community rollouts of the Sago Dry Toilet, finally bringing its broad benefit to fruition PNG communities. We want to acknowledge and thank Steamships today for their ongoing support and aligned vision towards organisations like us who continue to innovate approaches and solutions for development and community advancement’

Ms Korawali added that ‘The exciting news for communities across PNG is that the success that Barakau has achieved with their sanitation progress can be replicated by other communities across PNG because the core components of the Sago Dry Toilet can be purchased either from KK Kingston or from hardware stores across the country moving forward.’ The Sago Dry Toilet is a permanent and waterless toilet solution that serves an extended family of up to 15 people or, in a school setting, up to 25 school children per toilet. This means that ‘Communities throughout PNG can now deliver their own similar programme to improve village health through better sanitation using the Sago Dry Toilet and their own self-built liklik haus.’

Sago Network is a not-for-profit community development organisation that aims to improve village health through better access to drinking water and safe sanitation across Papua New Guinea. This is achieved by partnering with rural and coastal communities committed to strengthening health within their village and by making widely available the Sago Dry Toilet for purchase. Sago Network’s team is a multi-disciplinary design and development unit headed by architects Rosemary Korawali, Brendan Worsley and Lachlan Delaney, and extends to include community development professionals, health workers, engineers and builders.

Steamships has evolved and consolidated into six businesses that span three competitive industries property; Pacific Palms Property; hospitality; Coral Sea Hotels and Enzos and Logistics: East West Transport, Consort Express Lines, Pacific Towing and JV Port Services. Steamships is a diversified conglomerate with a significant presence in Papua New Guinea which was been grown for over 100 years. Our success has been built on creating sustainable shareholder value through long term investment, development, diversification, operational excellence, and good governance.

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