For the first time in the history of East New Britain Province, the law and order sector is being prioritised in the ENB Provincial Government’s (ENBPG) annual budget.
This funding aid is in response to the escalating law and order problems faced in the four districts of the province over recent years.
Governor and Chairman of Finance, Michael Marum, announced this during his budget speech, saying the funding will target two key areas of special security operations and community policing.
The law and order sector gets the second largest allocation of K12 million from this year’s budget of K519,816,218.
The ENBPG this month endorsed its 2024 Provincial Budget during a special budget session held at the Malapau Beach Resort in Kokopo.
Recording K98 million less from last year’s budget, the 2024 money plan again includes funding from former years, and is focused on fixing existing infrastructures under the program ‘Connect ENB’.
The Connect ENB Program gets the biggest slice of the pie, with a funding allocation of K23 million to go towards fixing provincial, district and LLG roads in the province.
This year’s budget comprises of K274,440,856 from the provincial headquarters, K206,841,362 from the four District Development Authorities (DDAs) with K38,543,200 for the 23 LLGs.
Fifty-three (53) percent of funding goes to the development component of the budget while the balance is for recurrent expenditure.
Governor Marum said the substantial increase in the 2024 LLG budget signifies the province’s focus on LLGs as institutional focal points for an effective service delivery model.
“This model is aligned with the service delivery partnership agreement and profiling autonomy at the lower community level,” he said.
He said the LLG budget totaling over K38 million, focuses on initiatives that support local capacity and governance, such as establishing ward offices, ward support grants, the conduct of the 2024 LLG Elections, payment of ward recorders’ allowances, a ward accounting package, and the implementation of the Ward Quarterly Reporting System.
“There are several Strategic Result Areas (SRA) in this budget which are aimed at addressing the pressing needs of our people, whilst setting the stage for critical investments that are needed for tomorrow,” Marum stated.
The prolonged construction of the Provincial Civic Centre (Provincial Headquarters) has been allocated K1.2 million, the province’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Action Plan got K1 million, while the Connect ENB Program gets the biggest allocation of K23m.
Under the economic sector, K1 million has been allocated to tourism development, the agriculture sector was given K1.2m while a downstream processing program for the sector was allocated K1.5m.
Social services was given K1.5m with K3.6m for sports and recreation programs, while law and order got the second biggest allocation of K12m.
The education sector received an allocation of K2.5m, the health sector was given K1.8m and land mobilisation got K2m this year.
The 2024 ENB Provincial Budget is being implemented under the theme ‘Fostering Sustainable Livelihoods at the Wards through Partnerships for Economic Growth and Development’.
“This budget theme strikes a delicate balance between immediate needs and future investments. It is a blueprint for building a strong foundation for future generations,” the governor said.