User-pay policy for Lae city

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Monday June 24th, 2013

 WHILE everyone is talking general service delivery and infrastructure development, one contender for Lae’s lord mayoral seat is sticking to basics – he wants to deliver five-star public toilets in the city. 

Operator of Eriku public toilet, businessman Luke Yawau wants to apply his modern public toilet concept based on the user-pay policy throughout Lae city if he is elected the next lord mayor.

Yawau said Lae needed to start from basics and create mechanisms that would introduce the user-pay policy to sustain infrastructure and services in the city.  

“The Eriku public toilet is evidence of a successfully run public amenity in this city and I want to apply that concept to this city.”

Yawau said Lae had a long journey ahead but it could not achieve its full potential if lea­ders lacked vision, expe­rien­ce and knowledge.

“This city has vast potential but successive leaders lacked the foresight to create the right environment to stimulate growth and improve internal revenue gain.”

Referring to incumbent Lord Mayor James Khay’s call for city commission status for Lae, Yawau said while it was appreciated, it was not feasible.

“To attain city commission status is a very complex thing that involves a lot of legal and administrative matters.

“You have to have the staffing, infrastructure and resource capacity to undertake such an ambitious agenda ,” he said.

“Let us not talk politics and waste time.”