outback to jungle

Musings on experiences of volunteering in Papua New Guinea with some gratuitous domestic social and public comment

Friday, May 12, 2006

where the f*** does the money go?

Post Courier 9 May. "Poor roads disincentive for investors
The President of the Lae Chamber of Commerce and Industry Alan McLay said while crime was one of the major impediments of doing business in Lae and Morobe, so was the poor state of infrastructure, particularly the city’s roads. If the roads and other infrastructure are falling apart you will have business asking why they should invest in the city,” Mr McLay said. He said Morobe Governor Luther Wenge should concentrate on fixing the roads in order to allow businesses to expand and in turn create job opportunities. Mr McLay said the new tact taken by the provincial government to allocate K6 million towards the cementing of the city’s roads was not the solution. “The solution is to fix and maintain. “An annual maintenance program is vital at the moment there is nothing in place.”
$800 million from Australian Government, plus the Japanese, European Union, Chinese and Taiwanese are all spending but this place looks crap. The people milking all this money from these donors and more besides such as from International Aid and Church groups it pains me to say ought to be ashamed that they have let their country and look like it does. Why would you pour more money into this place when you see nothing for it?

1 Comments:

At 7:44 AM, Blogger Naaaaath said...

Hehe! FIRE UP G! GET INTO EM!

THe money is still a dribbly piss in the ocean (pls excuse my vernacular) compared to the sort of money that runs through Autralian coffers each year on roads, education, health etc.

In fact, why don't we compare 25% of Australia's budget on roads/Hospitals etc to the PNG equivalent?? There's 5 mill people in PNG. There's 20+mill on Oz.

Unfair comparison?? Maybe. But maybe the direct-coverall-"where's the money going" question is a little unfair too??

Toodles!

 

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