NCDC needs K1bil budget, says Parkop

The National Capital District Commission needs a budget of K1 billion to manage and lift Port Moresby city, Governor Powes Parkop says.
Parkop said the NCDC budget was about K300 million — which was not enough to manage a city with 25 per cent of the country’s population.
“We need a budget of over K500 million to run and manage a city the size of Port Moresby,” he said. “Our budget now is almost K300 million.
“That’s almost the same as Southern Highlands or Hela and other such provinces, so we are not really more advantageous than others.
“In the meantime, our population is over a million or about 25 per cent of PNGs population.
“We are the biggest concentration of population in any parts of the country. We deserve a budget going into almost K1 billion.
“How will we cater for such a population with a budget of K300 million and below?”
Parkop said under the NCDC Act, its budget was approved by ministers for Inter-Government Relations and Finance.
He said building infrastructure and providing services to high standard required more resources.
Parkop said spending resources in hubs like Port Moresby, Lae,
Mt Hagen, Kokopo, Rabaul, Goroka and Madang was not a mistake.