Gulf allocates K15,000 each to 327 wards

THE Gulf government has allocated K15,000 to each of its 327 wards for basic services and infrastructure development.
Governor Chris Haiveta said this following an announcement on the abolishment and establishments of local level governments (LLGs) and wards in the province this week.
Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae executed proclamations for the abolishment and establishments of local level governments and wards for Gulf and Morobe.
These amendments will see the establishment of five new LLGs and 177 additional wards in Gulf.
This brings to total 16 LLGs comprising of 327 Wards.
“Every new council and ward has been budgeted for including the new ones,” Haiveta said.
“The provincial government is putting K15,000 into the wards so they can start their ward planning this year and deliver basic services and infrastructure.
“When you empower communities, you get the job done.
“We (Gulf) have a programme with Australia as a result of climate change so our people can be self-sustaining.
“The programme is aimed to up skill our people in resilient communities and they are ward-based programmes.
“The reason for establishing new wards and councils is because of the big population and the need to refine our (provincial) borders to allow for our town to grow.”
“Also, we saw a need to look at areas where since colonial days there were no councils established along our borders with Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Simbu, Southern Highlands, Western and with Central we have areas where there are no councils or wards,” Haiveta said.
Malalaua and Kikori are among two new urban councils created.
Acting provincial administrator James Hasu said the local administration supported reforms taken by the provincial government.
“We actually started to act with regards to reforms, especially to do with our administrative structure,” Hasu said.
We are going to do a revised structure to accommodate these reforms and other policies.”