Milne Bay sets standards

Normal, Papua
Source:

The National, Monday February 15th, 2016

 By HELEN TARAWA

MILNE Bay has one of the most improved communication systems in the country, says provincial administrator Michael Kape.

Kape, from Veifa in Central, who signed his four-year contract last week, says Milne Bay also has one of the best transportation systems in the country.

Kape, who has worked in the province for over 30 years, says Milne Bay has set the standard in many different aspects of service delivery.

“When you go to the remotest parts of Milne Bay, there is communication and it’s beneficial for health and education.

“We have improvements in transportation, particularly in wharves and sea transport provided by our leaders. Health-wise, we now have health centres in remote parts of the province.

“Our health workers are going to the rural areas. Our province was one of the first to adopt the provincial health authority system. The accessibility by our rural community to health centres is improved because of the transport and communication services that we have.

“Tourism is expanding because of the beauty of the area, although we did not get any funding support from the Government,” Kape said.

He said much of the provincial budget of K100 million was for public servants’ salaries and recurrent expenditure.

Kape said with the reduction in the development budget, they must have to work within their means.

“It’s a difficult year and we just have to manage and follow our activities in line with the budget.

“Milne Bay is a peaceful place and if all our provinces were like that, PNG would be a nice place to live in,” he said.

Kape was among four provincial administrators and other departmental heads who signed their contracts at the Government House last Thursday.