Australia, PNG sign agreement on decentralisation of services

THE Department of Inter-Government Relations and the Australia government have signed an agreement on the decentralisation of services.
Minister for Inter-Government Relations Kevin Isifu said in PNG people owned the land and lived on their land. “That challenges the Government to bring the services where they live. And most people live in the rural areas. So we have to look for the right approach to bring the services to them.”
Minister for Planning and Implementation Richard Maru said the programme was to define the level of facilities needed for the governments and development partners to deliver services to the districts.
“In that way, we can better align partners like the Australian government to help us fund this roll-out programmes throughout the country. Before we talk about service delivery, we must define what the standards are,” Maru said.
“This is what this process is all about.
“It’s a process that we will be talking to our governors and partners about.”
He said the Government was providing funding to the districts which was triggering changes in rural areas.
“One aspect we have yet to define is what the minimum level of service delivery is to each of the district in the country.”