Funding of districts unfair: Bird

EAST Sepik Governor Allan Bird says three districts in his province receive inadequate funding for their size.
He said Ambunti-Dreikikir (10,784 km²), Angoram (17,546 km²) and Wosera-Gawi (9,055 km²) were large areas and funding allocated was “terribly insufficient for development and service needs”.
Bird said this in light of recent rounds by the Electoral Boundaries Commission for consultation purposes on creating new electorates.
Bird stressed that the criteria for a new electorate had to be clearly defined.
“It must include population and land area together,” he said.
Bird said the three districts had to be split or have increased funding from the national government.
“I feel these three districts need twice the amount of money they currently receive in order to make services accessible to all our people.”
He said a 10,000km² district receiving the same amount of money as a 1,000km² district did not make any sense.
“If Chimbu, which is smaller than Angoram, Ambunti-Dreikikir and Wosera-Gawi, and can get 10 times more funding, then, I propose that the funding formula needs to be reviewed,” he said.