Local level govt establishes business arm to manage projects

THE Bundi local level government in Usino-Bundi, Madang has established a LLG business arm to manage its assets.
The business arm or company will manage all machines and vehicles bought by the LLG, to ensure the assets are used appropriately in development and service delivery.
President David Gakana said the LLG would establish a new business arm, and appoint directors with a restructure to monitor its assets.
“Performance of the operator of excavator, fuel (consumption) and daily operations will be monitored,” Gakana said.
“The operations will cost a good amount of money.
“We now have machinery and capacity, so we won’t spectate and wait only for the Works Department for maintaining our roads,” he said.
Gakana said his LLG aimed to generate its own income by maintaining roads in its area while the LLG’s business arm would administer all assets.
He said this when approving a decision to purchasing an excavator worth K572,000 and a service vehicle worth K180,000 at a council meeting last week.
The earth-moving machine and vehicle will be purchased using part of the five per cent royalty from the Ramu nickle mine.
The LLG received K1.5 million in royalties. It hosts the Kurumbukari exploration site of the nickel-cobalt mining in Madang, currently operated by Chinese Ramu Nico company.
Gakana said roads in the Bundi were a priority for the provincial government and they were venturing into the road repair and construction business to take some of the burden off the state.