The former Bougainville Revolutionary Army General Sam Kauona supported the comments made by the Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill to a packed crowd of around 8000 people at the Arawa Independence Oval. Mr O’Neill said that the National Government will not force decisions or dictate terms to the ABG concerning the high impact projects, while announcing the Kokopau to Buin sealing, Buka ring road sealing, Arawa Town seaing, Arawa Town sewerage, Arawa hospital and Aropa airport redevelopments. Mr. Kauona strongly warned that the Infrastructure Development Authority (IDA) under Mr.John Kaio must not dictate these projects, and must be free of foul play and political interference. He said that there are Tenders out currently that are intentionally designed to eliminate the eligibility of local contractor participation; hence favoring large foreign companies who will also play the role of “Management Companies” to manage Bougainville sub contractors. Mr. Kauona supported the prime minister that any development projects must be implemented according to the conditions on the ground and wishes of the people of Bougainville as prescribed under the ABG inward investment policy. Mr Sam Kauona also disagreed with reports that the IDA (Infrastructure Development Authority) is allocating a portion estimated to be around K30 million for feasibility studies of the Bougainville East Coast Trunk Road from Kokopau to Buin. This fund can seal another 30km or so. It is ridiculous as this is an existing trunk road constructed prior to the crisis and there is no need for such an exorbitant study. This is going to deplete the funding allocation for upgrading and sealing works. Furthermore the IDA tendered projects maybe illegal as the entity itself was not duly established under any existing Act of Parliament. This unlawful entity has recently grown its tentacles to duplicate the DOW responsibilities and goes against the ABG inward investment policy and therefore its role and responsibilities within DOW organizational structure is questionable. The tenders put out by the IDA are EPC Contracts which means from the suggested design to the procurement and construction are controlled by the same company and Bougainville companies have no participation rights and will only be sub-contractors. I demand that the IDA withdraw this recommendation of feasibility studies, as it looks fishy and bogus on an existing road. Such studies were already conducted when the road was being built some 20 years ago. This is not a new road. I must support my colleagues, David Sisito and Ishmael Toroama, that the free money from the high impact projects earmarked for Bougainville should be wholly expended on Bougainville as a peace dividend for Bougainville business houses. And we will directly recruit expertise as much as possible from our counterparts from other provinces. The prime minister has spoken, not to force decisions on the projects, but allow the local business houses to take ownership, build necessary capacity and share the peace dividend within the local economy. Let’s be sensitive and mindful of people’s expectations, not just on road projects, but on mining, agriculture and other impact projects that are expected to intensify over the next few years, as announced by the PM. Let us not siphon free government funding out of Bougainville, under the pretext of management companies or feasibility studies. I take the opportunity to thank the prime minister and his delegation for the high level visit to Autonomous Region of Bougainville, visiting all three regions, and to witness for himself the issues and development challenges on Bougainville. Similarly the existing presence of the AUSAID Program managed by Roads Consult under SMEC has boomeranged money back to Australia and failed to build any managerial and construction capacity of the local companies on Bougainville.
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