Agreement paves way for project

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Esa’ala development authority in Milne Bay and the PNG Civil Registry and Identity Office (PNGCIRO) on Friday, has paved the way for the national identity (NID) project to be rolled out in the first maritime district.
Esa’ala is also the first district in Milne Bay to sign the partnership agreement which will enable PNGCIRO to undertake the project of registering about 60,000 people.
PNGCIRO registrar-general Noel Mobiha said the MoU would enable them to carry out the project with a funding support of K172,000.
“For us, it’s an interesting model with 60,000 people on two major islands, we think the programme will go very quickly,” he said.
“Instead of putting vehicles, we are putting boats on the support and we will send an elite team to help.
“We will frontload Esa’ala quickly by moving a few more kits to get it out of the way.
“The more the number of people and the number of kits, the faster we’ll get the district done.”
Mobiha said under the new partnership, the district with an allocation of K172,000 would help sponsor the staff to work with PNGCIRO at the district level.
“We will send our trainers to train them and they will take a backstage and let the district roll out the programme for us,” he said.
“We will continue to maintain the integrity of data so we will have a compliance officer on the ground to ensure that it’s done properly.”
Esa’ala MP Davis Steven, who is Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Justice & Attorney-General, said he hoped the MoU would enable his people to be registered.
“We are signing this with the hope that we will get our people registered and it’s also to train our youths to help us prepare for the 2020 national census,” he said.
About 5,000 youths from the Esa’ala district would be engaged in the project.