Madang’s economy hit by bad governance

MADANG has been experiencing governance issues since before the Covid-19 arrived, which has seen no development to stimulate its economy, according to the Madang chamber of commerce and industry. Chamber vice-president Christian Seeto said now, with the onset of the Covid-19, small business really suffered. “While I’m saying small business, it’s affecting most businesses in Madang, especially in the tourism and hotel industry which has had to reduce staff,” he said.  “We have seen no real development, no projects (to) stimulate the economy.” He said the Covid-19 pandemic had made things worse. “Basically, employment levels are really low with a lot of people out of work,” he said. “This has greatly impacted the business community in Madang.” Seeto said the other issue was the lack of high schools. “We have a shortage (of high schools) in the province (which has forced) an estimated 5,000 students to miss out on grade 9 every year because of the lack of infrastructure,” he said. “This has been affecting Madang for the past 10 years. “It is contributing to the law and order issues.“We see a lot of young people in rural areas who cannot proceed to grade 9.” He called on the Madang provincial government to address the issues which were “very serious”. Seeto comment could be obtained from Madang Governor Peter Yama. Seeto called on the public service administration “to get its act together”.