www.lifhaus.com.sb

The younger Honiara population would probably be too young to remember the city as a laid back, small, dusty but clean town area that among many things had a lot of empty green spaces.  From recollection, our Lifhaus team spent time reminiscing about what had been Honiara only 15 years ago.  One of our roving reporter went back as far as the 1980's to recollect that "Point Cruz was small but very neat and better still with a paved path from Post Office right up to the Honiara City Council Office."

"A lot of green space, one directly opposite the Honiara Central Market with giant Ngali nut trees."  A lot of people who came to the market often spent time under those trees and people who wanted to do preaching often used that vacant lot to carry out their activities.  "And believe it or not, there was a functional traffic light that once stood there exactly where people are always trying to cross the road now in front of DJ Graphics.  Think about it, we may have actually regressed in development because 20 years ago we had traffic lights!"

Our Senior Lifhaus Administrator had this to say.  "Now, I take my family all the way to Kakabona and spend $20 each time we want some peace and quietness.  Sometimes we go all the way up to the airport and use its lawn.  However, I am not all for that because the lawn is actually not a place for people to hang out on and use as a picnic area.  But we have very little choice so we make do with what we have."

"I realised the difficulty now because on Friday, I spent some time with our Publicity Guru in Honiara and after buying some food we were at loss to find a nice place where we can sit down and have our lunch.  It was then that I realized that we do not have much choices any more.  10 years ago, I would be sitting in the museum or using the National Art Gallery lawns.  Now there is nothing, nowhere to relax and enjoy lunch."  Unfortunately, this is the general consensus of many Honiara residents.

The majority of the team agreed that the focus on development was slow but it placed emphasis on giving Honiara residents an experience.  "Like we had two cinemas, one at Point Cruz and the other was at Kukum.  These were well kept cinemas which catered for families to go out at night.  Also at Kukum was a games arcade with a pool table.  And the Kukum field was the hub of activities and it was home to Laugu Foobtall Club.  Those were really nice times," said one of our team members.

But the focus of our discussions was Point Cruz.  "Point Cruz did not look cheap like it does now.  Of course the buildings looked old and were relics from the war, but it had the look of a well kept town.  Christmas trees lined up the street all the way to Town Ground.  There was a fast food outlet like MacDonalds near the Hot Bread Kitchen.  A well stocked, well lit supermarket which sold quality food imported from overseas was where Poma store is now.  And believe it or not, there were actually public toilets which were functional and well maintained."

Our Lifhaus team came to the conclusion that Honiara City Council must now decide on an identity for Honiara.  Many cities overseas are now iconic and famous all over the world because people take pride in their city and promote themselves and where they live.  Closer to home, Brisbane is the capital of the Sunshine State.  Melbourne is a city well known for its flowers.  Nadi is the tourism hub of Fiji.  Lautoka is promoted as the Sugar City.  "What is Honiara?  We are fast becoming known as a melting pot of trouble and that is sad because everyone takes little pride in what Honiara is. " said our Publicity Guru.  "We should have more green spaces, public benches for people to sit on and enjoy time without being harrassed by loiters and those that make a niusance of themselves by begging on the streets".

Lifhaus believes that the onus is now on Honiara City Council to be visionary "to take the challenge of giving Honiara an identity and that is what our Chinese community failed to realize in the rebuilding of Chinatown.  True, they must get back into business as quickly as possible but at the same time, Chinatown used to have an identity now its just a collection of white buildings and its identity may be gone forever." said our Senior Lifhaus Administrator.  "The council must properly plan the city, identify areas where it is most convenient for people to congregate and provide basic amenities that would be convenient for Honiara's working population.  And Point Cruz needs a major facelift."

Our Marketing Guru perhaps had the final say, "If you forget about the greater half of Honiara and just picture the area from Mendana Hotel right down to the new rugby stadium, that should be what Honiara must aspire to be.  Better still become better than that."