Island district comes out top

 RABAUL district has been hailed as one of the best performing and most accountable districts in the country.

Rabaul MP Dr Allan Marat told the joint district planning and budget priorities committee last week that government auditors, who inspected the district accounts, had confirmed Rabaul’s status.

He said this was despite the allocation of only K3 million of the K10 million district services improvement programme to Rabaul. 

“Although the district supported the 2013 national budget, we have been given a raw deal and there has been no equal distribution of DSIP funds. From the K10 million, we have only been given K3m,” he said.

Marat said Kokopo received K7 million, Pomio K6 million and Gazelle K5 million.

He thanked district officers for the good work.

“With the little we were given, members of JDPBPC and district administration must work together to economically and socially empower our people,” he said.

Marat clarified that K2 million from the K5 million PSIP fund was given to the district microfinance institution Mataure Rabaul Microfinance Limited.

“With confusion and contradiction in the national government, we as the top district decision making body must now narrow down on our district development priorities on strategic result areas,” he said.

He said the district must focus on its five-year rollout plan and annual working plan to guide deliberations during meetings and the implementation process by district officers.