PNG: starting to go down the tube?

Now we have it: after bowing down to the Malaysian loggers [bad] and cancelling the World Bank's [bad] Forest and Conservation Project [other some parts good and some parts bad] the government is going to fund the Highlands Highway from internal revenue [good: if they are cashed-up].

Well they should be doing that and not mortgaging our children and grandchildren...but the question is: can it be done without screwing up?

The likelihood is that it will screw-up...the work will not go ahead, and then the Highlands will get cross.

So here go the Waigani mafia up to Simbu to try to win hearts and minds.

They will get away with it if they can deliver; but the chances are they will not deliver. And or they will steal the funds from some other source, or borrow from the sharks...

Trouble....anyway we look.

Here is what the PNG Post Courier said, in a bit of media-briefing journalism re-gurgitating a government hand-out, today (it would have been nice to hear what Mal Kela or Pius W had to say) :

Govt shifts focus on highway repair.

The National Government has shifted focus on funding for the K300 million rehabilitation of the Highlands Highway from donor funding to domestic funding.
Chief Secretary Joshua Kalinoe revealed this in an interview with the Post-Courier yesterday following a decision reached by the Central Agencies Co-ordinating Committee (CACC) in Kundiawa on Monday.
The CACC, comprising departments of the Prime Minister, National Planning, Treasury, Finance and Personnel Management made this decision on Monday. This follows a two-year delay in implementing a National executive Council decision of 2003 due mainly to delays in the release of funds by aid donors, especially the World Bank.
“We have agreed to fund the rehabilitation work using our own funds instead of waiting for donor assistance,” Mr Kalinoe said.
“The domestic climate is conducive for us to explore financing options, including going to the domestic capital market.
“Accordingly, the CACC has decided to explore options to raise K300 million domestically to rehabilitate this important national asset.
“The combination of funding sources include the option of inscribed stocks. The domestic options do not have the market risks usually associated with offshore commercial loans. A desk study is currently underway to determine the total cost of the rehabilitation program, based on an earlier report by Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation.”
Effectively, this means that the CACC has taken control of the Highlands Highway rehabilitation project. Chairman of the project management committee and Secretary of Planning Department Valentine Kambori has been directed to report to the CACC by August with the costings and technical data.
“We intend to go to public tender between August and December 2005,” Mr Kalinoe said.
“The evaluation and determination of the successful tenderer should be announced by December and construction should start by January 2006. That is the timeline that the CACC is looking at.”