Abel: Government plans need K20b a year

By GYNNIE KERO
THE 20-year Development Strategic Plan 2010-30 needs a yearly funding of K20 billion to sustain it.
Planning Minister Charles Abel told the national conference of state ministers, governors, departmental heads and provincial administrators on Monday that the country needed to bridge this deficit by growing revenue and improving efficiency.
He said the initial aim was to double the size of the economy over the next five years to about K60 billion to generate the required government revenue.
Abel said action is needed to be taken on the demand side by stabilising the population growth rate and cutting costs.
“We need to kick-start this process by continuing to stimulate growth with a sustained and predictable investment stream into infrastructure and human resources,” he said.
“We also need to think about building an economy, which is sustainable in the longer term.
“To me, this is a low population, highly- educated, high-tech economy based on green technology and the environment.
“From a planning perspective, we need to be able to see a game plan from a macro perspective and better understand our respective parts as members of the team.”
“Abel said government focus was now on “implementation” and this would take place through 12 critical activities:
He said the focus now is implementation and this is to take place through a series of critical activities, among others:
n    Financing;
n    Scoping, costing and  procurement systems;
n    National priority infrastructure programme; and
n    PNG LNG and sovereign wealth fund