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| Five-year plan a real challenge for Morobe | |
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By MADELEINE AREK THE biggest challenge for the Morobe provincial government for the next five years will be its ability to implement the 2008 – 2012 provincial development plan. The public servants admitted at a three-day workshop last week it was trying to be efficient and co-ordinated. The province has a high dependency rate, a huge rural population, low health and education standards and an income level inadequate for most families, they said. They said that while there were many areas of concern, the three pressing issues were very low provincial health status, educational standard and an inadequate income level for the majority of the province’s population. Statistics revealed that the population was being destroyed by malaria, pneumonia, meningitis and tuberculosis. Statistics also indicated that in recent years family and health conditions in many communities were virtually non-existent. The province also has a very high illiteracy rate. While the education system took up a large part of the provincial resources, it was only able to cover 50% of the eligible school-aged children, a major cause for concern for educationists. It has also been made known that the general income of the rural people of Morobe was below the minimum rural wage. Studies further revealed a non-existent savings culture. The Morobe provincial government, under the leadership of caretaker Morobe administrator Patilias Gamato and the backing of the province’s nine national politicians, was determined to reverse these trends. In its “Transforming the lives of the people and the communities in Morobe province” development policy, the administration aims to rehabilitate its infrastructure network, sustain economic growth, develop human resource capacity, rejuvenate growth centres, ensure good governance and management and support national line agencies. It believes that it can effectively and efficiently deliver goods and services to its people over the next five years by rehabilitating and developing efficient transport infrastructures, promoting broad-based and sustainable economic growth. This will provide diversified opportunities for increased income earnings by the people, promote integral development and wellbeing of individuals and communities, promote the availability of wealth and bring goods and services closer to rural communities to reduce urban migration. It will also promote efficient corporate services, good governance and management that would result in the effective delivery of goods and services. |
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