Housing scheme looks promising

THE Free Rural Housing Scheme can have spiralling effects on rural Papua New Guinea if developed into a national development policy.
Former deputy speaker and Nipa-Kutubu MP Jeffery Komal launched the concept as one of his development projects to be trialed in the Nipa Rural local level government (LLG) in Southern Highlands.
Eighty per cent of Papua New Guinea’s population live in rural areas, with most being very remote and inaccessible.
Owning a good house is a basic right.
A good home gives hope and prosperity. It is an advancement.
Many families aspire to live in healthy lifestyles and comfort but economic adversaries disadvantage their aspirations.
For rural PNG to advance and modernise, we could start with owning modern homes.
Families who have trees to mill for timbers would reduce their expense.
Families with no trees can buy timbers from others.
The availability of finances and the lack of it could be a major obstacle.
But should the concept be syncronised into a development policy platform, the three-tier governments could align with donor agencies, seek subsidy on building materials and embrace it as an ongoing development programme.
Every year, there should be a fixed number of houses delivered to the 89 districts.
Annual allocations per the scheme can also be budgeted.
Remember the scheme is exclusively for rural family units.
There is so much to analyse and configure but basically, Komal has vowed to embark on this somewhat skewed yet practical concept and the results would be excellent.
The concept is workable. It is not a scientific experiment.

Brian Folock