Province owed K300mil: Juffa

Business

By DALE LUMA
THE Government owes Northern K300 million, says Governor Gary Juffa.
He told the Start-Up PNG 2019 convention on Tuesday the money was budgeted for the province and a lot could have been accomplished with that amount had it been given.
He said there were no new projects for the province after 2017 because it did not receive the funds.
“I am tired of begging the old government and complaining about them but the fact of the matter is that they are responsible,” he said.
“K300 million is a lot of money that’s owed to a province and this is money that is budgeted for and due to the citizens of that province and if we had that money, we could do so much more.
“After 2017, there were no projects for Oro, 2012 to 2017, those projects where projects from previous governments.
“The four bridges, a wharf and the airport were all funded by development agencies and previous governments.
“But they have been stuck in the bureaucracy of Waigani which is a very complex world.”
In providing an update for the province, Juffa said they had a lot of planned projects underway in the area of forestry, agriculture and other sectors. “For forestry, we are embarking on an amazing project with some friends from overseas,” he said.
“We are putting together a type of block-chain technology that will allow us to use a carbon credit scheme which has funding out there available.
“It is a very stringent process but we are getting there.”