K220mil revenue ‘disappointing’

LAE mayor James Khay says the K220.4 million in revenue declared by the Morobe government for last year is disappointing.
“The province can do better than the K220,465,200 to make up part of Morobe’s Budget 2022,” he said.
“For such a big province, our internal revenue is not working.
“We are not collecting enough.
“We must pull our socks up.”
According to the provincial budget passed this week, internal revenue was largely generated from goods and services tax (GST) with over K147 million, departmental and administration fees more than K66 million, levies exceeding K4 million and entrepreneurial and property income at more than K1 million.
Khay thanked the Morobe government for 20 per cent of the GST collection for the Lae city authority.
He said Lae urban and Ahi local level government must always be captured in the provincial plan as they host most of the activities that generate revenue.
Wau-Bulolo MP Sam Basil also called for acquittals from Morobe’s business arm.
Basil said K2 million had been allocated in this year’s provincial budget as the financial investment grant for the MPG business arm.
“The arm must provide report to give us performance in the last five years, especially last year,” he said.
“We need to know how they have operated, how much revenue they have generated and how are they planning on using this next K2 million.”