The National Planning Minister has thanked the Prime Minister and Cabinet for their support in finalising the new Revised Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme Policy Guideline, which was launched by Peter O’Neill on Thursday.
Minister Richard Maru said the Government is aiming to raise K1 billion between 2019 and 2022 to fund major infrastructure projects in both resource and non-resource provinces, which have been planned for in the Medium Term Development Plan III.
He announced that the first project to be funded under the new-look ITCS will be the Gulf to Southern Highlands Highway 12km final missing link. This will be done at a cost of K50 million, up to the sealing stage.
“This road will be funded by Oil Search and we are very confident before the end of this year, Gulf and Southern Highlands will be linked for the first time,” Maru said.
“Work is expected to commence in the coming weeks.
“Government is determined to commence the work and connect the Gulf and Southern Highlands provinces.”
This is one of the high impact projects that is being funded by the ITCS. This will be a real game-changer for Papua New Guinea and Minister Maru is pleased with these advances.
“In the meantime, we are working on a wharf in Kikori so that eventually, Southern Highlands will be linked all the way to Gulf to a wharf in Kikori and the wharf will provide access to the people of Southern Highlands, Enga and Hela to access a wharf much closer than the one they rely on in Lae.
“This will greatly reduce the cost of goods and services to our people in Southern Highlands, Enga and Hela provinces in the long term.”
Minister Maru will be travelling to Madang on Wednesday to visit work being done by the PNG Defence Force on the Baiyer and Madang track, which is another missing link.
The Government will foot its part of the funding at K15 million while the balance will be met through the ITCS.
The Government is also determined to complete this high impact economic road this year.