The WWII relics Working Committee comprising of representatives from various stakeholders of relevant Ministries and organizations via Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy, Ministry of Information, Communications and Tourism Development, Office of Te Beretitenti, the Betio Town Council and the Red Cross has recently been set up by the Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) to look after and manage the maintenance and beautification of all key WWII Relics that can be seen on Betio.
The Working Committee held its first meeting on Friday, 13th September 2019 at the Ministry of Information, Communications and Tourism Development where they discussed and brainstormed ideas on how the current state of these WWII relics can be maintained in order to be more sustainable in future for incoming travelers interested in visiting these historical sites. The committee also had an opportunity as part of the meeting to do the sites visit to get a firsthand experience and observations on the current issues relating to these WWII relics and to come up with ideas and recommendations that would help solve these issues.
Working Committee to look after the maintenance and beautification of WWII relics on Betio, Tarawa
Among the issues discussed at the meeting that was considered a priority was the need to get cabinet’s clarifications on who has the ownership and guardianship of all these WWII relics. Once this has been cleared, the next important step for the committee would be to convene its next meeting and start working on the issues and recommendations as identified following the sites visit for the maintenance and beautification of all these WWII relics.
