Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has made a commitment to ensure contractors comply with construction standards and deadlines when building educational infrastructure nationwide.
“In 2018 we have allocated 1.29 billion Kina for the Education Sector, which is nearly nine per cent of National Budget. This is an increase of 13 per cent from the 2017 Supplementary Budget.
“We have placed more than an additional one million students in school over the past five years, and now we are applying additional focus on improving the quality of education.
O’Neill said these cases verge on defrauding the state.
“This must stop and we are looking back at previous contracts to identify any irregularities for further investigation.
The Prime Minister made the announcement while attending the opening of a new classroom building at the Waisisi Primary School in the Talasea District, West New Britain Province.
“As I officially open this newly built classroom building, today, I thank the school board and the builders for doing an outstanding job,” said O’Neill.
O’Neill also made known that the Talasea District will soon become two districts. This is due to the district having a large land mass and a growing population.
