Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has questioned the use of District Services Improvement Program (DSIP) funding totalling to K40 Million for Kavieng District.
The Prime Minister told the gathering crowd that incumbent Kavieng MP, Ben Micah, should focus on serving the neglected people of Kavieng.
Mr O’Neill, who recently visited Kavieng, said there is no evidence of development from the more than K40 million in DSIP delivered to the District. This is government funding for over the past four years.
He said DSIP funding has delivered much change for many districts around the nation, but claims this is not the same for Kavieng. He questioned why the K40 million has not been spent on improving Kavieng.
The Prime Minister said despite questions over the use of Kavieng’s DSIP, the National Government has continued to directly fund projects in New Ireland Province.
O’Neill said when he went into parliament in 2002, there was no support given to districts in the country and all services were run down. But when they went into government in 2012, they changed all this and now all districts receive direct funding.
O’Neill attributed that the work is about to finish on the road to Buluminski Highway, and renovations have been completed on the Kavieng Hospital and airport fencing. The district’s many roads and jetties were also directly funded by the National Government.
The Prime Minister said the personal attacks by the Kavieng Member are unfortunate.
He went on to say that a leader should be able to take criticism, learn from it, and strive to do a better job at delivering development and services for the people.
