Business groups to be prioritised

By PETER WARI
MONEY will no longer be given to individual small and medium enterprises (SMEs) owners in Southern Highlands after allegations of misuse, Governor William Powi says.
Instead, priority will be given to community-based business groups.
Powi said currently, there were 47 registered business groups in the province and funding to support their SMEs work would be given to the 47 groups.
“In the past, when there was funding available to construct a classroom or other community-based services, some private contractors built poor infrastructures and had money diverted to their accounts,” he said.
“This is one of the main issues why the province lacks good infrastructure and my administration has come up with the initiative to create the community-based business groups so that it benefits everyone.” Powi said the practice would see only business groups comprising more than one shareholder being given contracts for small infrastructure projects such as construction or maintenance of classrooms and health centres.
He said the expectation was that business groups would make better decisions with the funding allocated for projects.
“The Marape Government’s ‘Take back PNG’ motto is to empower the rural people in SME activities and my administration is doing that,” he said.
“Private contractors that have been sucking money in the past years will now feel the pinch; their selfishness and greed has forced me to change and sideline them, and engage everyone in the community.”
Powi said SMEs contributed significantly to both employment and gross domestic product and empowering business groups was vital as they were the “mini engines” of the economy.