Saonu wants Lae authority set-up to sustain districts

National

By JUNIOR UKAHA
MOROBE Governor Ginson Saonu says he wants to see a Lae City Authority (LCA) that is “different” from the model followed by the National Capital District Commission.
Saonu said he wanted a LCA where benefits generated from the city were shared with the rest of the province.
“Lae should be the hen that produces eggs for distribution to the other districts,” Saonu said.
“Lae can ‘feed’ the other eight districts of Morobe.”
Saonu said he also wanted financial autonomy for Morobe. He said Morobe made a lot of money for the national government but in terms of its remittance, it did not receive much.
Saonu said he was told that provincial governments would get only K10 million this year, compared to the last five years when they got K5mil per district.  “I have a big province so this is unfair,” he said.
“Why do they have to cut back the budget allocation?
“Why do they take things out of Morobe but give little back?
“I will cause a raucous to ensure Morobe gets the best.”
Saonu said he did not want to preempt things but he was looking for a more practical and realistic approach to find working solutions for the problems facing the province.
He said he would work together with the nine open MPs of the province to develop it.