AusAID to focus on infrastructure

By RIGGO NANGAN
THE Australian government, through AusAID, will assist with infrastructure development in Morobe, minister counselor Stephanie Copus-Campbell said in Lae yesterday.
Copus-Campbell, who accompanied Australian High Commissioner Ian Kemish and other officials on a familiarisation tour of Bulolo and Lae, said Lae was one part of PNG which the Australian aid programme would be keen to support. 
She said one of the programmes would be the rebuilding of the Angau Memorial Hospital.
Although no commitment had been made, she said qualified doctors, nurses, midwives, drugs and equipment would surely be needed.
Copus-Campbell also told members of the Lae Chamber of Commerce and Industry yesterday that Australia had earmarked K457 million for AusAID programmes this year.   
She said AusAID programmes would utilise this funding through existing public private partnership programmes.  
She stressed that management and leadership were key factors to make programmes work efficiently and effectively.
“Australian aid cannot be everything to everybody, but we are trying our best to help where it is most needed,” Copus-Campbell said, adding that Australian aid had helped PNG’s economic development by about 14%.
She said the number of overseas advisers on AusAID matters had been reduced by one third and the money saved had gone towards the programme to boost road and school infrastructure.
Asked what the Australian government was doing about law and order, especially in Lae, where businesses had been hindered, Copus-Campbell said currently there was no direct
programme set by AusAID  to counteract the situation.