Reintroduction of scheme a good move

I WOULD like to commend the go­vernment and National Development Bank for reintroducing the Stret Pasin Stoa scheme.
Almost all the  retail shops, especially trade stores and kai bars, are owned or run by foreign nationals.
It is an “eye sore” and a crime against our citizens.
I call on the government not to allow such practices to continue in
the near future.
These foreign nationals are now going into districts to run and ope-
­rate shops while our people remain as spectators because of the lack of empowerment and encouragement by successive governments and stakeholders, and poor enforcement of our laws on restricted businesses.
Many are legitimising their pre­sence by marrying unsuspecting PNG women so they can continue
to trade under the name of their spouses.
As discussed at the PNG Indigenous Business Summit in Kokopo last year, we cannot allow this to go on and must regain our “birthright” by taking back and running all trade stores, food bars and move into owning and running more restaurants, etc.
As a result of our unified desire to take back foreign-owned and ma­naged businesses, especially in the SME sector where we have enough citizens who can competently run these shops and kai bars, our “haus moni”, the National Development Bank, has made a firm decision to reintroduce the Stret Pasin Stoa scheme this year.
This is made possible by the
K130 million seed capital funding to the bank by the government in the budget.
On behalf of our people, especially our indigenous business community, I would like to thank the board and management of NDB and the government for their funding and support for the reintroduction of the Stret Pasin Stoa scheme.
This is consistent with the Vision 2050 aspirations to empower our people to create wealth for themselves.
We also encourage our citizens not to lease their properties to non-citizens.
Our people  must work together to em­power and support our hardworking and competent citizens to
run trade stores, kai bars, restaurants, etc.
I urge the government to continue supporting our citizens who are struggling to participate productively in the nation’s economy.
The main issue here is we need funds to move our goals forward.

Concerned Citizen
Via email