Govt must focus on sustainable development

LET me jot down my opinion on the way forward for the develop-ment of the country.
A lot have been said about development issues in PNG through many avenues including the mass media, international conferences and on the floor of Parliament.
Development is perhaps the desire of every citizens, business firms, industry groups, govern-ments, financial institutions, and non government organisations.
Every time, these social and economic units invest a lot of time, effort and resources into see-ing development in their world and the world around them.
Seeing a water supply system installed in a remote village in Kutubu or Mount Bosavi in the Southern Highlands Province will improve human health and as a result improve education standard and household produc-tivity.
At the same time, seeing a part-nership between the RPNGC and the AFP will see a more versatile and focused law enforcement action in the country.
Abuse cases will be reported and a lot of women and children victims of domestic violence and rape will get genuine help.
Moreover, the First Home Ownership Scheme will obviously provide shelter and security, and improve human health and productivity for many families for many years. All these services and many others are collectively provided by almost all the social and eco-nomic units listed above.
However, the provision of the services require not just a black and white plan but funds, personal, equipment, building and so on which are in fact scarce.
The scarcity of the resources implies that risks and returns for any program or project must be weighed for cost effectiveness.
Thus, it is imperative that to ensure cost effective work and a progressive development in the country, there needs to be readily available data from the respective implementing units.
This data will then be fed into the central system which includes the National Statistical Office, Department of National Planning and Monitoring, Department of Treasury, Department of Health and other government departments, and financial insti-tutions and development agencies.
With the data available, the government and other develop-ment partners will be much more comfortable in identifying devel-opment needs and in providing the necessary development inter-ventions and in that way and only through that way, the country can perhaps achieve a progressive and a sustainable development.

Wamz Strategist Via email