Morobe welcomes hike in budget

By GABRIEL LAHOC
THE Morobe government has welcomed its increased funding in the 2012 Budget.
Deputy Governor Morokoi Gaiwata thanked the government for the K99 million allocation, which was an increase of K7 million from last year.
Gaiwata said the funding would help the province live up to its status as the “economic nerve province” that contributed more than 80% of national revenue in taxes.
“The government must realise the need to increase budget funding which should effectively cover all our rural districts,” he said.
He said ideally Morobe “will need and operate on K230 million”.
Gaiwata said the funding allocation would be used under the Vision Morobe medium-term plan of 2012-17, which would focus on the province’s capacity-building and human resource development and infrastructure development, especially in the districts.
He said vital areas such as education and health had been the main expenditures of the provincial government, with the highways and main roads of Menyamya, Garaina, Kabwum to be covered under the funding.