Temotu wants Motalava as Airport hub
August 12, 2025 10:27 pm | Posted in Business News | Share now TwitterFacebook
By Hilaire Bule.
The Premier of Temotu Province in Solomon Islands, Stanley Tehi, said his province welcomes the Vanuatu Government’s plan to upgrade the airport on Motalava Island.
Mr. Tehi said this could become a hub for the people of Temotu to transit through Motalava to catch international flights at Pekoa International Airport in Santo.
He explained it would take them less than an hour to reach Motalava compared to three hours to Anderson International Airport in Honiara.
He said the final work on the new tar-sealed airport will soon be completed. Mr. Tehi said they are currently working on the runway to accommodate aircraft such as the ATR.
The Temotu Premier made the remarks on Monday in Port Vila following the joint release of a press statement with the President of TORBA Province, Edgar Howard.
The statement was issued at the Ministry of Internal Affairs conference room on the management and protection of marine resources in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the two provinces.
Mr. Howard said they discussed their shared context, commodities, history, and present and future situations.
“When the Vanuatu and Solomon maritime boundary talks started, our negotiations took 33 years,” he said. “Finally, in 2016, our two countries decided to resolve our maritime boundaries using our kastom, and we signed a historic agreement in Motalava.
“We decided that our border was not to be seen as a fence but as a bridge — our Melanesian corridor. In 2024, we signed the Tirvau Bilateral Agreement in Honiara. This agreement is primarily established to manage the shared ocean space between our two countries. The two provinces of TORBA and Temotu are located on the most remote edges of our countries, two Melanesian archipelagos with limited economic bases and facing food insecurity.”
Mr. Tehi said both provinces took the urgent initiative to meet face-to-face this weekend in Port Vila to discuss their common interests and challenges.
“We have agreed that the greatest threat to the present and future peoples of our remote islands lies within our shared ocean space,” he said. “Climate change, Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, population growth, ocean warming, and ocean acidification are leading to food insecurity and a severe decline in income. Science has shown us that our reefs are dying.
“Our fish stocks are dwindling. Our top predators and resource fish are disappearing. We will stop this. We can regenerate our solwara. It is within our power and ability to reverse these alarming threats through full protection for the total recovery of our ocean space.
“Today, together, we are making a momentous commitment to a massive transboundary Marine Protected Area (MPA) within our shared ocean space. We, as provincial leaders, recalling the success of the Motalava Treaty, are now also approaching the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to use the MSG platform to support our initiative. The formal announcement of the legal declaration of this MPA will take place in Honiara at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Summit in September this year.”
The Temotu Premier said that in recognition of the commitment by the people of the remote provinces to legally designate protection of the large contiguous waters as national MPAs, both provinces are committed to supporting their people to diversify their livelihoods, develop alternative sources of income, and strengthen self-determination, land sovereignty, food and nutrition security, and climate resilience.
