A prominent Malaita man has described development in his province as ‘bottle-neck approach’ while supporting government’s move to review projects on Malaita.
Robert Wales Feratelia in a private view article, made the description given the many projects which are still struggling to get up and operational.
He said, the move to review all the projects is important before most of these projects are able to kick start.
“I personally wish to commend the Government for its intention to thoroughly scrutinize again these key national projects being earmarked for Malaita. But I call on the government to expedite this review exercise so that the projects continue undisturbed to proceed towards implementation.”
He added DCCG is moving in the right direction in reviewing Malaita projects. “That is not to say, they will abandon these projects but to remove any defects that might have also cause hindrance to the progression made towards their immediate implementation.”
He said, its important that all resource owners and stakeholders must support each other to ensure projects are up and running.
of the 10th parliament comes to its natural death in 2018.
“I want to appeal to the good law-abiding citizens of Malaita to be reasonable and accept a factual reality that Malaita Projects currently faces, and that is what I term in my own dictum as, a “BOTTLE NECK APPROACH”.
“We cannot expect all key Malaita projects to lift off the ground at the same time. It is impossible and impracticable. It was just unfortunate that all Malaita projects have been dragged and slowly pushed along throughout the past years causing them to arrive now at a very critical point – the bottle neck situation.”
He attributed lack of development in the province to personal attitude.
“We have to blame ourselves, as individuals. Obviously, it is our personal attitude towards development that impedes project implementation. Rapid social change has greatly challenged traditional ethical norms and values, leading to a high rate of land dispute amongst tribal members, even to the farthest extreme involving two brothers from the same tribe or clan taking action against each other in the courts.
“Land itself is not a problem; land dispute is not an issue either – the problem lies with the people and their attitude towards development on Malaita soil.”
