The Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC) continues to help promote the Kutubu region as a tourism hub through its annual financial support of K50, 000 to the Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival (KKDF).

MRDC Chief Operating Officer, John Tuaim presenting the dummy cheque to the Festival Committee on Thursday.

A cheque of K50, 000 was presented to the Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival Committee in Port Moresby this week.

This marks MRDC’s 9th year of support, giving a sum of K450, 000 to the festival since its inception in 2011.

This year’s theme; Strongim na wok bun wantaim” encourages the people to come together and work in partnership for the growth of the community so that they can be resilient through adversities.

With this, the MRDC ensures that the communities are able to thrive and sustain themselves after the earthquake of March 2018. The company believes that this can be done through events like the festival, to remind the people of the goodness and value of their motherland, which gives birth to their cultures and traditions. The Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival is an annual event that aims to promote ecotourism, generate income at the local level and is a platform for creating awareness on the importance of preserving traditional practices and beliefs.

MRDC is proud to support the festival to promote sustainability through eco- tourism so that traditional practices, beliefs and natural environment can be preserved, especially after the earthquake.

The festival is one of the biggest event in the region that showcases traditions from different parts of the region down to Kikori basin in the Gulf Province.

The Kutubu region in the Southern Highlands Province hosts the Kutubu Oil fields, which has been the backbone of the country’s economy for more than twenty years, making the people shareholders of the country’s biggest oil project, as well as pipeline landowners of the PNG LNG Project.

xThe Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival will be held this month from the 19th- 21st in Daga village, Kutubu, Southern Highlands Province.