DSIP funds success rate below 50%, says ORD

National, Normal
Source:

YVONNE HAIP

THE K10 million allocated to each district in the country under the District Services Improvement Programme (DSIP) has changed the face of the districts and empowered its people.
But statistics showed that the implementation success rates were below 50%.
This was revealed by the Office of Rural Development (ORD) in a two-day workshop held at Mt Hagen’s Hotel Kimininga in Western Highlands province last week.
The workshop was held purposely to review the results of the programme through research carried out by ORD in Enga, Southern Highlands and the Western Highlands provinces.
Participants looked at the achievements and the problems and mapped a way forward in areas where problems were identified.
The participants of the workshop included provincial and district administrators, treasurers, presidents and other officials.
ORD deputy director Kelly Lovaru said the three provinces researched had their major DSIP funding on law and order, and road infrastructure.
He said these were the catalyst of development because without communities at peace, development would not go ahead and if there were good road conditions, services would follow.
Mr Lovaru said one reason why districts had seen significant development was because in this part of the country, a politician’s life was short.
He said people wanted development and if services were not delivered, the incumbeats would not make it into Parliament the next time.
Because of this, he said development had been sped up in what he termed as “Members running at 100kph while everything else was running behind at 10kph”.
He said the programme had proved beneficial in all districts around the country and should be implemented in future years because it was development oriented.