WB visits projects

WORLD Bank’s Asia-Pacific vice-president Victoria Kwakawa was in East New Britain over the weekend to visit World Bank-funded projects in the province.
She visited projects funded by the World Bank including the provincial market and took a field trip to the productive partnership in agriculture project (PPAP) on cocoa rehabilitation in ENB.
In welcoming the vice-president and her delegation into the province last Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Inter-Government Relations, Sir Leo Dion said ENB has had a long association with the World Bank since the twin volcano eruption on Sept 19, 1994.
Following this event, Sir Leo said the province lost almost everything in Rabaul town which was said to be the best designed town in the country.
“We have to deal with an internally displaced population of over 20,000 with basic relief and emergency supplies,” Dion said.
“From the emergency phase to the medium restoration phase of the disaster, the Gazelle Restoration Authority was established and mandated by its own legislation and administered by the GRA board to restore services and infrastructure affected by the eruption.”
Sir Leo thanked the World Bank for agreeing to finance the medium term restoration programme through a loan totaling K185 million and implemented from 2000-2006 and agreeing for a loan effectiveness extension from 2006-2009.
He said a number of important policies were also undertaken by GRA that supported the provincial government’s strategic development including:
l The urban and regional development plan that include the Kokopo-Tokua corridor plan and the growth centre development hierarchy;
l the provincial economic development plan; and,
l The risk assessment study and vulnerability reduction plan.
Sir Leo said there were also positive results in the infrastructure component of the PPAP project which was worth considering for further World Bank support.
“Our aim is to restore cocoa as the commodity of choice of the people in ENB and to increase our production volume and export to the level that existed prior to the cocoa pod borer incursion in 2000,” he said.
“In the long term, I believe we have the quality and volume to consider downstream processing our cocoa and add value to our export.”
He also acknowledged the support of the World Bank towards the tourism infrastructure intervention project for East New Britain and Milne Bay.
Sir Leo he would like to see much of the investment of the tourism infrastructure project directed towards actual development and not administration which must be supported from the national budget to complement the World Bank loan facility to drive the tourism sector forward in the province.