BY JOHN HOUANIHAU

Concerned youths of Pipisu Village in West Are’are Constituency are demanding answers after the MV Taimareho, a vessel purchased with constituency funds, abruptly stopped servicing their community.

The MV Taimareho was intended to serve all communities within West Are’are, ensuring villagers could access essential shipping transport service.

However, young men who spoke to this paper recently said the vessel no longer docks at Pipisu, leaving them isolated costing villagers to travel far distances to board the vessels.

“Now it doesn’t come to Pipisu anymore. We deserve to know why,” the youths said “We feel ignored and sidelined, even though this asset was meant for all of us.”

The concern youths said that family members and people travelling to Honiara have to travel to other nearby villages by OBM’s to board the vessel.

“People have to hired OBM, pay for the fuel in order to go and wait at the other port to travel to Honiara. This is not good for us and we want answers from the WAC office,” the youths said.

“We will not accept being left behind while resources meant for all of us are diverted elsewhere,” the concern youths said.

The youths have vowed to continue pressing for answers and demand that services be restored immediately.

Responding to the queries, a spokesman from the WAC shipping operations said that the closure of the port is only a temporary due to some issues within some communities there and the company.

Speaking to this paper yesterday the spokesman said that operational in terms of fuel cost may have led to the decision plus the ongoing issue yet to be addressed.

“There is an issue, not with the community of Pipisu but other communities there that is need to be settle before we resume back our operation to pipisu and others in the upper lagoon. This is not permanent decision, it’s a temporary based on the issues, “a spokesman said.

The spokesman said that they are working on ways to solve the issue in order to resume services to these concern communities.