District opens new bridge

 A NEW bridge in Buang, Bulolo, was opened last Friday and named by Opposition leader Belden Namah the O’Neill-Marape Dinau (money owing) Bridge.

According to Namah and his deputy and Bulolo MP Sam Basil, the reason for the odd name was that Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Finance Minister James Marape were responsible for holding back K7 million of the 2013 district and services improvement programme funding for the Bulolo district.

Because much of the district’s DSIP fund was not released, Basil asked a Chinese contractor to build the K20 million bridge on a credit basis.

Namah said Bulolo was an important district which had contributed much to the development of the country and its contributions to the national coffers and that it should not be neglected in the government’s development plans.

Namah said he would go to court to ask for the national government to suspend the K5 million provincial services improvement programme (PSIP) funds from the national government into the provincial government’s treasury to be diverted to the districts whose MPs in the opposition have which missed out. 

“One of the founding eight guiding principles of this nation by our founding fathers was for the equal distribution of the nation’s wealth, but this government is not practising that. This prime minister has used the DSIP funds to play around with MPs and to pass important legislations in parliament,” he said.

“We have 22 provinces and 89 districts but all other districts have received their 2013 DSIP funds but the six districts whose MPs are in the Opposition have not yet received their funds,” Namah said.

Waria LLG president Bill Murphy Wata, Mumeng president Okam Pato and president Wau Rural Noel Kipindu and acting Morobe provincial administrator Geoving Bilong hailed the announcements by Basil.