K40 million released to ABG govt

THE Government has released K40 million as the first installment of the K100 million per year promised to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, President Ishmael Toroama announced to the House of Representatives.
The promise was made in February at the Joint Supervisory Body meeting in Arawa. “Since the formation of the post crisis Bougainville Government, a total of 20 Government-owned business enterprises have been set up,” Toroama said.
“As of this year, only four of these businesses are operating while 16 have closed. “Out of the four that are still operating, only two are contributing revenue to ABG. “This is a failure rate of 80 per cent and is a serious indictment on the performance of past governments. “There are a lot of lessons to be learnt going forward in how we plan, manage and conduct business. “We currently only generate 24 per cent internally of the revenue needed to run government and to deliver services and development,” he added.“In order to avoid the problem of poor business performance in the future, my government is working on setting up business management systems that will uphold good management principles against the pilfering of funds in the past.” “My government will also soon announce new business ventures to the value of US$19mil (about K68mil) and announce investments totalling US$100mil (K400mil) by early 2021 creating about 2,000 jobs to the economy.” Toroama further stated, “with regards to Panguna, the Veterans Association of Panguna, under the leadership of the vice-president, is preparing the ground work for the removal of the remaining bones in and around Panguna. “This will clear the way for any talks relating to the possible reopening of the mine.”