Lack of funds delays inspection

National

THE Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD), mandated to coordinate and facilitate service improvement programmes (PSIP and DSIP), has no funds for the inspection and monitoring of programmes and projects, acting secretary Aihi Vaki says.
He said once allocated, the monitoring funds would be  utilised for conducting PSIP and DSIP awareness on the financial instructions and administrative guidelines as well as involving inter-government agencies or whole  government approach to conduct compliance monitoring to maintain transparency and accountability.
Vaki said SIP programme was seen as an overarching policy that had significantly changed the lives of rural majority and both sides of the house should fully support the policy.
He, however, said the sub-national government should have a capacity to deliver and implement.
“Road must be built, electricity must be connected to villages and communities so that economic activities can take place so people’s livelihood can transform,”
Vaki said in a statement.
Vaki said provincial and district administrators were taking charge of schools, district and provincial roads, health facilities and economic activities in the provinces and districts, so acquittals must be submitted in the first quarter of the following financial year.
Finance and Rural Development Minister James Marape recently highlighted that over the last four years, K4.89 billion in the form of PSIP, DSIP and LLGSIPs (local level government) were frontloaded to provinces and districts where more than 80 per cent of Papua New Guineans were living.
Vaki said with this kind of money going straight to where the bulk of the population lived, there must be compliance and monitoring of where the huge amounts of money were spent and to take stock of state properties such as machineries purchased under public funds (DSIP and PSIP).
Vaki said service delivery depended entirely on good political leadership.
If the administration was in order, it would calculate the volume of services implemented without much hindrance.
“The department should be fully funded by the government to inspect and monitor SIP projects in the country so that funds must be spent on what they are intended for and not submitting fake or falsified acquittal reports to the department for compliance sake,” Vaki said.
North Fly MP James Donald shared the view that the government should release monitoring funds to DIRD timely so that every toea spent was accounted and reported to the government as the factual information.