Funding boost to give new life to rural airstrips

The Rural Airstrips Agency (RAA) will get increased funding because of the important work it is doing in providing accessibility to remote communities, a Cabinet minister says.
RAA was established in conjunction with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) to restore airstrips that had been closed because they were no longer usable.
Now the the government would look at key infrastructures that had economic potential and able to sustain themselves, said Minister for National Planning Richard Maru at the opening of a medium-term development plan Southern Region Forum on Monday at Dixie’s Bungalows at 17-Mile, outside Port Moresby.
Maru told leaders of the Southern region who attended the forum to focus on raising internal revenue and not be dependent on government funding.
He said the country was at a crossroads, and if leaders failed to take corrective measures to address many pressing challenges to steer the economy out of
where it was, they would lose the ship.
He said some of those many pressing issues were the decline in government revenue, resulting from lower global commodity prices and the fact that companies did not pay enough taxes for various reasons.
Other issues Maru highlighted was the increase in population that put considerable pressure on public goods and services and high unemployment rate.
Rigo MP Lekwa Gure, Goilala MP William Samb (who is also the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Bougainville, Sports and Constitutional Matters) and Ijivitari MP Richard Masere attended the meeting.
The forum ended on Tuesday.