ENB COMMUNITIES’ RECIPIENTS OF 4 MILLION KINA FUNDING

 

Four LLGs’ communities in East New Britain are set to benefit from a 4-million-kina development grant made available after being appraised by their LLG Development Committee (LLDC) through the Ward development planning process under the auspices of the Rural Service Delivery Project.

Five of the seven Women’s groups are amongst the first beneficiaries and will receive grant funding between K70,000 and K140,000, while the thirty-two Wards subprojects will be receiving between K80,000 and K110,000 for community projects such as classrooms, community resource centres, water catchment and other community prioritised projects.

Mr. Jacob Warus left with LLG Managers and ENB District Administrator Wilson Matava

This is a collaborative partnership effort by the Department of Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs (DPLGA) and other key agencies such as National Planning, Treasury, Finance and Works delivered through a World Bank credit facility along with a grant support from the Australia Government.

Up to 37 successful wards and women groups in three local level government wards are first recipients of this funding aimed at improving basic services prioritised by the communities themselves.

In a small yet significant ceremony, Raluana LLG in Kokopo District, Toma-Vunadidir LLG in Gazzelle District and Balanamataman LLG in Rabaul District signed their grant agreements between the implementing agency, Department of Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs and representatives of three local level governments, thirty-two Wards and five women groups. While West Pomio Mamusi LLG signing is scheduled to take place at the end of the month.

Provincial administrator Wilson Matava said the signing is a result of the commitment and engagement set up by leaders of the province. “There are a lot of programs coming from the national government through different agencies and departments, and we are thankful to previous administrations and political leaders for their oversight in doing this groundwork,” said Mr Matava

 He said the provincial government will continue to embrace the reforms to enhances service delivery to the people through partnerships with development partners and key government institutions.

Acting Secretary of Department of Provincial and Local Government Affairs Joseph Warus reaffirmed the importance of collaborating with stakeholders to improve lives of Papua New Guineans in mostly rural remote communities.

“East New Britain also has certainly lived up to their counterpart funding commitment. Today is an important occasion in witnessing the signing for the 37 grants agreements. This paves way forward for development in our wards. We must be happy that the projects are of not the districts or LLGs, but goes right down to the wards.’’

Mr. Warus and Mr. Matava after signing the agreements

This project objective runs in line with the province’s overall development plans and the National Government’s focus for a bottom-up planning, where communities’ members had the opportunity to decide and prioritise necessary services and infrastructure related grant funding.