Minister for National Planning and Monitoring

The Minister for National Planning and Monitoring, Richard Maru, met with the National Institute of Transforming India and extended an invitation to them to visit PNG and also participate at PNG's inaugural National Planning Summit.

Also known as NITI Aayog, the National Institute of Transforming India is the policy think tank of the Government of India.

It was established with the aim to achieve sustainable development goals to ensure the cooperative involvement of the State Government of India in the economic policy making process using a bottom-up approach.

“The Government is concerned about the quality and safety of water that Goroka residents are consuming and using,” reveals Minister for National Planning and Monitoring, Richard Maru.

Speaking during a cheque presentation in Eastern Highlands Province on Friday, the Minister said in light of the upcoming APEC workshops and associated spin-off activities to be held in Goroka, the Government is allocating K257,000 to Water PNG to make an immediate assessment of the town’s water system.

This was the statement by Minister for National Planning and Monitoring, Richard Maru, in light of their planned trip to India on December 11.

“India was once a struggling economy, having difficulty in supplying food to its people, a trade imbalance in favour of the outside world, a population that was not so literate and struggling to improve the quality of life. A story very much like PNG,” says Maru.

“That story is different today.

The high profile Government delegation includes senior state ministers in the likes of the Minister for Education, Nick Kuman, Minister for Inter-Government Relations, Kevin Isifu, Minister for Information, Communication, Technology and Energy, Sam Basil, and Governor for West New Britain, Sasindran Muthuvel.

Other senior government officials traveling with the delegation include Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato and acting registrar general of the Civil and Identity Registry, Michael Kumung.

He says a country endowed with so much Mineral resources should not have any excuses.

He made the statement when comparing non mineral rich countries like New Zealand to PNG, who have constant National budgets of up to 100 billion annually.

Maru was pleased that the development budget has seen an increase from K2.5 billion to K4.6 billion which is projected to feed the Government’s economic stimulus package.

He said it was important to increase the investment budget so that critical infrastructure such as roads and wharfs can be built.

Minister for National Planning and Monitoring, Richard Maru, says he has heard that citizens have been charged to be issued their NID cards; this practice has to stop.

Maru bluntly informed the acting registrar of the PNG Civil and Identity Registry, Tumbo Kumung, to weed out the practice of charging fees.

“At the moment I’m hearing that staff are charging people all kinds of fees. The ID cards are free.

“So Mr Kumung, one of the things you’ve got to make sure doesn’t happen anymore is people being charged for getting cards.

National Planning and Monitoring Minister, Richard Maru, revealed this when announcing the appointment of Tumbo Kumung as the acting registrar general of the Civil and Identity Registry.

Maru said a detailed report with findings and recommendations will be presented to Government to chart a way forward in progressing the NID project as well as ridding the registry of malpractice.

The Medium Term Development Plan 2 Pocket (MTDP2) Book and the 2013 – 2016 Development Outcomes Report were both tabled in Parliament yesterday during the 2017 Budget Debate.

Planning and Monitoring Minister, Charles Abel, told the media today that the Department is bringing back an emphasis on monitoring and evaluation through the publication of scorecards.