Govt plans to abolish 16 agencies and merge roles

The Government will abolish 16 agencies and amalgamate their functions with other agencies in the public service under the public sector reform, an official says.
Personnel Department deputy secretary Policy Development and Reforms Ravu Vagi told the Public Sector Reform Awareness workshop in Port Moresby that the National Executive Council had approved the list of agencies that would be affected.
Functions of the Coastal Fisheries Development Agency will be taken over by the National Fisheries Authority, the Border Development Authority’s functions will go to the Department of Provincial and Local Level Government, Department of National Planning and Monitoring and Department of Treasury, the National Economic and Fiscal Commission to the Treasury Department, National AIDS Council to the Health Department, Department of Petroleum and Energy to become the National Energy Authority, Cocoa and Coconut Institute to the Cocoa Board and Kokonas Industri Koporesen respectively, and absorbing the National Narcotic Bureau into the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General.
Vagi said the PNG Unesco office would be merged into the Education Department.
The Tourism, Arts and Culture office functions will be transferred to the National Cultural Commission and the Tourism Promotion Authority.
The Department of Public Enterprise will be merged with the Treasury Department. The Office of Urbanisation’s functions will be transferred to the Department of Lands and Physical Planning. The Trade Division in the Department of Commerce and Industry will come under a National Trade Office in the same department.
National Science Research and Technology Secretariat comes under the Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology and the National Tripartite Consultative Council to the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.