Hagen council needs K10m to run services

By JAMES APA GUMUNO
THE Mt Hagen City Authority in Western Highlands is under pressure to cope with the big influx of people every day.
City manager Victor Megao said the city needed between K5 million and K10 million to provide all the basic services.
Megao said the authority’s annual budget of K2.5 million was not enough to provide these services.
He said due to financial problems, the staff ceiling was incapable of serving more than 200,000 people living in the city plus the extra number coming in everyday.
He said the authority received K600,000 in annual grants from the national government, K800,000 from land rates, about K150,000 from sanitation and garbage fees and K600,000 from trading licence fees.
Megao said if all bushiness houses paid their sanitation and garbage fees and trading licences, they should have enough funds to provide goods and services.
He said the authority employed 80 staff including cleaners on the streets which were not enough for such a big city.
He said rubbish was strewn everywhere in the city because of the shortage of manpower.
Megao thanked local MP William Duma for supporting Mt Hagen.
He also thanked people involved in the cleaning of the city like the Western Highlands elites, Moge Komkui community, Moge Undaklin widows, churches and other groups who volunteered to clean the city.
lSee editorial on Page 28