Pundari announces 100-day ministry plan, seeks to cut costs

By LUKE KAMA
ENVIRONMENT, Conservation and Climate Change Minister John Pundari announced his 100-day plan for the ministry during his welcome at the Variarata National Park in Sogeri, Central, on Friday.
Pundari held a similar position under the first O’Neill government over the last five years.
He announced that the senior management team from the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (Cepa) would be urged to provide ministerial advice on cutting   costs. “Over the next two to three months, I will be looking at how the organisation can be reorganised to realising the realities of compliance monitoring,” Pundari said.
“I believe the challenge will be on the organisation to be looking at cutting costs.
“That is something I will be interested in  and the senior management team to advise me on which areas they would want to cut costs.”
Pundari said unproductive areas would have to go.
“We will have to invest in priority areas that will give more meaning to the mandate and the responsibilities that we have,” he said.
“That means all unnecessary consultants will have to go.
“If we are serious about the national protected areas policy, if we are serious about an enabling legislation and if we are serious about alignments in environmentally friendly developments, then we have got to do the right thing in so far as monitoring and compliance is concerned.”
Pundari said a review on the Kokoda initiative master plan and the Environment Act 2000 was the priority, and would be looked at in the first 100 days after formation of the new government.
Cepa managing director Gunther Joku welcomed Pundari for the second term and said the political leadership provided by Pundari had transformed the environment and conservation sector.
Pundari said the act would be reviewed to cater for the challenges posed by environment audits and compliance.
“We have developed a draft legislation to enable our national protected area policy because we need to have a legal and institutional framework that would help, ensure that we manage and govern well our protected areas throughout the country,” Pundari said.
“I  know and understand the importance of monitoring and compliance when it comes to matters of environment and conservation.”
Pundari said the policy would have to go hand in hand with effective monitoring and compliance.
“If we talk about sustainable environment development, we need to get it right,” he said.