Medium Term Development Plan roll out in 2011 Budget: PM

Five year development plan to create approximately 315,200 jobs in PNG’s biggest nation building program in its history

 

The Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare said the 2011 budget to be brought down in parliament next week will represent the start of the MTDP (Medium Term Development Plan) for the first five years to 2015. Without pre-empting initiatives to be announced in the budget, I would like to lay out for the nation the overall direction being planned for the economy. Under the MTDP, the government is targeting development expenditure of K36 billion over five years to create an additional 315,200 jobs throughout PNG by 2015.

Sir Michael said the MTDP was also the first five-year stage in the Government’s broader strategy of the 20-year Development Strategy Plan (PNGDSP) and realisation of the Vision 2050 program, which provides the overall direction of PNG’s development initiatives for the next 40 years.

“These programs collectively form the building blocks for economic development and prosperity of our nation for future generations,” Sir Michael said.

“The government has every confidence in the integrity and efficacy of the Medium Term Development Plan and is very excited to be announcing this significant allocation of funds which will directly increase the standard of living of every PNG citizen,” he said.

“Importantly, the plan will aim to achieve an average economic growth of 8.5 per cent a year which will result in a healthy rise in the average GDP per person from K3430 in 2010 to K4638 by 2015,” the Prime Minister said. 

“The MTDP now becomes the cornerstone for all national, sectoral, provincial, district and local government plans.  It provides cohesion, direction, rigor, deliverable targets, measurability and accountability for all sector development activities.

Above all, it is a program that enables the whole nation to pull together in a team effort to realise Vision 2050.

“It enables those tasked with delivering specified results to see clearly where they fit into the overall program, and to appreciate how their efforts will drive successful local and national outcomes. It generates a national ownership of our future growth and success.”

 “The most significant aspects of the MTDP include:

-     The upgrading of 16 national priority roads, construction of 16 ‘missing link’ roads and construction of four additional Economic Corridor national roads;

-     The construction of 315 new aid posts around the country in line with targets set for 2030 under the DSP. The Plan requires the Department of Health to hire 50 additional doctors and 787 nurses by 2015.

-    In the education sector, 1,678 new primary and secondary schools will be built across the nation in every province with more than 9,800 teachers to be recruited in the next five years;

-     In higher education about 21,500 university places will be created, 6,800 technical and business college places, 8,000 teacher places, 5,000 nursing places, 3,700 vocational training institution places and improved access to internet and communication technologies and K1.1 billion will be spent to improve the law and order situation.

The Medium Term Development Plan has undergone extensive planning and meticulous measuring to ensure its accuracy in projections and forecasts, using the Government’s sophisticated PNGGEM economic modelling software by the Department of National Planning and Monitoring.

Job creation within the MTDP is expected to be dramatic with approximately 87,300 jobs created by the end of next year and 315,200 more Papua New Guineans who will have jobs by 2015.

Sir Michael said, “About 239,000 of these government and private sector jobs will be in the ‘urban formal’ sector with most of the balance representing additional rural employment at the ‘informal level’ in a village environment.

“More than 207,000 jobs are expected to be created in urban based industries and in mining, as well as in services – particularly in construction.

 “Through careful fiscal management, the Government has lowered the country’s debt to GDP ratio in the past five years. With our strategic and measured economic road maps – the PNGDSP and the MTDP – we will continue this growth of the economy from 2010 to 2015 and onwards,” he said.

Sir Michael said that since 2002, the Government had brought the debt to GDP ratio down to less than 30% from an unsustainable high of 72%.

“As part of laying the foundation for growth, the Government will ensure fiscal and monetary stability is maintained, land is sufficiently unlocked for development, law and order problems are stabilised, and quality infrastructure networks are established to connect rural populations to markets and services,” he said.

“Similarly, increasing competition, enhancing national primary and secondary education completion, transportation and the provision of key public utilities of electricity, clean water and sanitation are the Government’s priorities in the first MTDP period from 2011-2015.”

Underpinning the Government’s success in implementing these priorities in the first and subsequent MTDP’s is the public sector’s performance and governance issues. The MTDP sets key performance criteria for the public sector, making Government more accountable at a senior level than before.

Collectively by 2015, K21 billion would be financed by the Government, approximately K5.7 billion by donors and about K5 billion by other stakeholders such as the churches and NGOs.

About the Medium Term Development Plan

The Medium Term Development Plan is a strategic five-year plan to optimally spend projected development funds totalling K36 billion. The MTDP envisages the creation of more than 315,000 jobs throughout every Province in the next five years, as well as greatly improved access to public health, education and other services. The MTDP is part of the Government’s 20-year Development Strategic Plan (PNGDSP) which aims to position Papua New Guinea as a prosperous middle-income country by 2030. The plan aims to achieve an average economic growth of 8.5 per cent a year with the average GDP per person increasing from K3430 in 2010 to K4638 by 2015.