Census important for service delivery

A population census is important to deliver services effectively to project area landowners, according to Mineral Resources Development Company.
Managing director Augustine Mano said the company would soon be embarking on a project area beneficiary census programme to capture the exact number of the population in these areas.
Mano said the data would then allow MRDC to plan and deliver services to the beneficiaries using the community infrastructure trust (CIT) fund.
“The data MRDC currently has is only up to the clan executive levels, which we need to open bank accounts where royalties are to be paid to,” he said.
MRDC holds landowner bio-data for clan executives only in the form of a benefit certificate.
The landowners were identified by the Bank, Petroleum and Energy Department and for internal business through the benefit certificate.
Mano said MRDC could not go in and build schools or hospitals everywhere without knowing the number of population the services would benefit.
“I don’t want us to deliver white elephants. We must have the data to be able to manage and measure how effectively we are reaching the people through the infrastructure projects we build,” he said.
As part of MRDC’s long-term plans for the census exercise, it has already begun the ground work.
The company is currently part of an Ok Tedi mine community patrol team who were facilitating the rolling out the National Identification registration programme for the population in the community mine continuation agreement areas in Western.