Department of Implementation and Rural Development

Bilum platform to address service delivery challenges

The Bilum Platform initiative is built incorporating the governance framework of the service improvement program (Provincial and District Services Improvement Program – PSIP & DSIP) to ensure and maintain compliance.

Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Conservation, Simo Kilepa highlighted this at the opening of the four-day Bilum Digital Platform awareness, testing and familiarization for sub-national administrations of lower highlands region covering Eastern Highlands Province, Simbu and Jiwaka in Goroka over the weekend.

Provincial govts urged to furnish reports

Acting Secretary for the Department of Implementation and Rural Development, Aihi Vaki, said 75 percent of provincial and district administrations are yet to furnish their reports to the department. 

Vaki is concerned that provincial governments and district development authorities are very slow in submitting their acquittals to the department.

“It is the responsibility of the administrations to submit reports to the department during the first quarter of the following year in order to receive the next lot of SIP grants for development purposes,” he said in a statement.

Equal fund distribution for districts

Acting Secretary Aihi Vaki said the program will see districts that are in need get more funding as opposed to Districts that do not really need them, such as urban areas.

Vaki said the program aims to address what they view is a funding imbalance that currently exists.

89 districts, MPs challenged to be accountable

Acting Secretary of the Department of Implementation and Rural Development, Aihi Vaki, wants reports and acquittals for Service Improvement Programs, 5 year development plans and non-discretionary funds to precisely show the link between decisions, development plans and implementation and how funds were used in these areas.

This, he says, is the basis of delivering tangible development.

Vaki said it is required by law that these reports and acquittals be submitted.

Wards must acquit through Districts

Acting Secretary, Paul Sai’i, says all wards must acquit finds through the DDAs which will then be captured in the district’s reports.

The Government has extended the decentralizing of funds from the Provincial level to the District level, and began last year to allocate directly to the ward level.

Sai’i told Loop PNG that while the funds go directly to the Ward level, they must still be acquitted through the DDA’s and there should not be any deviation from the current process.

South Fly submits 2016 DSG acquittal reports

The acquittal reports were presented  to the Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) in Port Moresby on Wednesday February 22, 2017. 

The district also had a privilege to receive their 2016 non-discretionary component of K250,000 cheque issued by the department (DIRD) in presence of the Acting District Development Authority Chairman Bolozi Iowa and the district public servants.

It’s your responsibility to deliver, Philemon tells leaders

The National Government is allocating a huge amount of development grants to the provinces and districts, but it depends entirely on the individual MPs and leaders to commit themselves and deliver services.

“I don’t know why leaders ask for more funds when there is enough money being frontloaded to each province and district in the form of PSIP, DSIP and LLGSIP by the National Government,” Governor Philemon said.

He stressed this while presenting his 2015 PSIP acquittal reports to the Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) in Port Moresby yesterday.

Provinces, districts and LLGs urged to submit acquittals

DIRD deputy secretary of program implementation wing, Jackson Why says there’ll be no funds distributed if acquittals are not submitted.

All provincial and district administrators are responsible for submitting acquittal reports for the first quarter of the previous year. Total of more than K17 million district and provincial support grants (DSG/PSG) funds, which accumulated from 2013- 2014, were stalled and parked at DIRD.

The cheques were stalled because of non-acquittal reports presented to the department.