Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill yesterday defended his Government’s track record in delivering services into the districts, saying funds were finally getting into rural communities after 40 years.
Speaking at the commissioning of an upgraded Kaugere Health Centre in Port Moresby, the Prime Minister told dignitaries from the private sector, government agencies and NGOs that the new facility is an example of a public-private partnership initiative. "Today is an important occasion not only for Kaugere, but for Papua New Guinea. It is an example of private, church and government partnership,” Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said. "We are able to achieve great things like this, the opening of the health centre at Kaugere," he said while emphasising that the country was now seeing the benefits of a public-private partnership. Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said "miracles" like the new health centre is happening throughout the country, where people are for the first time seeing many developments through buildings and the upgrading of roads, schools and health facilities. Government funds have for years been centralised in Waigani, he said but the current Government has decided to release funding to the districts despite criticism that the money would be misused. "For 40 years, there were no such funds reaching the communities. But for two years now, these funds are reaching the communities,’’ he said. The Prime Minister also urged people not to jump to conclusions driven by critics of his Government but to make their own judgments based on its performance in terms of delivering services. He also pointed out that the developments taking place now is a result of the Government managing funds well and not because of the LNG project as there are no funds coming from the project yet. "There is no new money. We are managing existing funds,’’ he said. There are more children going to school now than in previous years due to his Government’s Tuition Fee Free Policy subsidy and more people accessing health services thanks to its Free Primary Health Care Policy as well as subsidised specialised health care. "Politics will be there but we must give credit where it is due. Port Moresby is moving because of good leadership and of government partnerships in the Government. We are committed to doing better.’’ He said there is a lot of work to do yet, including issues facing PNG but assured that PNG’s economy is predicted to do better next year with its GDP expected to rise higher than many other countries. Comments are closed.
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