291211ABG spends K100million state grant

By New Dawn Media

ABG leaders must consider development plans on a region wide scope rather than in terms of their own constituencies or districts says Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) finance, treasury and planning minister Albert Punghau.

He said using constituencies and districts as a criteria for allocating scarce development resources only results in small community projects that make very little or no impact on the lives of the people.

Punghau said this when presenting an outline of ABG’s plans to spend the first one hundred million kina of the national government’s special financing package of K500 million to ABG from 2012 to 2016.

He said the ABG had decided to use the four pillars of the Bougainville priorities for development 2011 – 2015 as the basis to distribute the first K100 million as follows;
• K8.5 million for peace and security,
• K16.5 million for economic development,
• K32.5 million for transport infrastructure,
• K19.5 million for human development and
• K8 million for good governance.

Punghau said the allocation under the five main expenditure programs amounted to K85 million with the remainder of K15 million allocated to fund projects in the constituencies, districts and Council of Elders areas.

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