The Premier of Makira Ulawa Province Julian Maka’a has announced that the way his provincial government has been managing its finances has improved in the last six months.
He said his Provincial Government of Unity, Reform and Advancement has met the reporting requirements and has also increased its revenue collections in the past six months.
Premier Maka’a said the province under its finance and revenue programs has also contributed to the recent qualifying assessments of the Provincial Capacity Development Fund (PCDF) administered by the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS) in Honiara.
But he said regardless of “our improved efforts in finance, we need to strengthen the financial mechanism in place with improvements to logistics and capacity requirements for development in 2021 and those years ahead.”
And on economic and planning, Mr Maka’a said the Makira Ulawa Provincial Economic Planning has not been capacitated to consolidate a home grown development plan that can be progressively carried out and can be viably sustainable to the province.
“Your provincial government will ensure a longer term development plan will be designed to accommodate the road map for the province’s development goals, adding we have already embarked on consultative communications with the national government on this issue.
“In this juncture, I specially acknowledge PCDF and donors, Japanese JICA which provides funds towards health projects; AusAid; NZAid, and the China Government which has donated Personal Protection Equipment (face masks) to equip our COVID 19 emergency operations,” he said.
Mr Maka’a said his provincial government is also processing three special economic zones at Ugi in Ugi-Ulawa Constituency, Waimasi in Central Makira Constituency and Anganiwai in East Makira Constituency.
He said work on the Special Economic Zones is progressing well and will be submitted to the national government when land dealings on the projects are completed after September.
Mr Maka’a said following a national induction by the Ministry of National Development Planning in March, cooperation in the planning capacity of the province is a need for further expansion to also cover small holder programs to feed into medium and bigger scale development needs.
The MUP premier made these statements in Kira Kira, the provincial capital during the province’s second appointed day on August 6, 2020.
By George Atkin
In Kira Kira
