Agiru urges MPs to reveal what they did

THE government must tell the people what major projects it had undertaken, Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru told parliament last Friday.
“It is time to take stock and tell the people what we’ve done so far.
“As governor of Southern Highlands, I’ll tell my people what I did.
 “We have to look back to the past and see what we have done. You, ministers, have to tell the people what you have done.
“The 89 open members have received K1 million each and another K1 million each from the national agriculture development programme, so you must tell the people.
“If you haven’t been doing your work, then the people will judge,” he said.
Agiru said some notable people like Sir Julius Chan, who built the freeway and Jackson International Airport, Sir Mekere Morauta, who strengthened and stabilised politics, and Sir Michael Somare had achieved many things.
“They are proud that they did that for the country,” he said.
He said beside those achievements “of these great leaders, the country was under siege from 1975-2005 and the budget was around K500 million and it lacked development capital and manpower”.
He said the country was under siege again from 1996-2007, with lawlessness an impediment to development.
Agiru said with the development of the Vision 2050 and the PNG development strategy plan 2010-30, the country was prepared to make a big jump.
He said the development budget had increased to K4 billion and the overall national budget had increased to K9 billion compared to the K500 million budget at independence.
He said the PNG LNG project, among other things, “is expected to raise about K150 billion”.
Agiru said the government should use the project’s revenue as well as from the budget to set up a petrochemical industry.