The East New Britain provincial government and its four district development authorities (DDAs) will start to receive direct funds to manage and maintain their own road network from this year onwards.
This follows the signing of the road management performance agreement last week for the transfer of provincial and district roads to provincial government and DDAs from the Works department.
The signing was between the Works and Highway Department and the provincial government and the four DDAs.
The occasion was attended by Governor Nakikus Konga, Gazelle MP Jelta Wong, Pomio MP Elias Kapavore, Rabaul and Kokopo district administrators, ENB administrator Wilson Matava and senior officers from the Department.
The transfer of decision-making powers and road management responsibility from the Works and Highways Department to the sub-national authorities is signed in line with the Road Management Act of 2020.
Mr Matava said the onus is on public servants including district administrators to see the importance of this MOU signing as they were going to be responsible and accountable for the condition of roads under them.
He said ENB must be committed to ensure that it will improve its inventory on roads, bridges and public utilities and improve its database so to reflect on the national assets of this nation. The agreement includes:
• The political transfer of road management powers and functions from the department to the provinces which was part of decentralisation;
• Administrative decentralisation which would see road management continuity transferred from the department to the sub-national level and the department would assist where necessary;
• Financial decentralisation where budgeted funding under the Government for national agencies would be transferred to sub-national authorities or to sub-national roads gazetted by the minister; and,
• Procurement decentralisation where the procurement for provincial and districts roads could be done at the sub-national level with K10 million and K5 million threshold the respective limit.
About K600 million would be disbursed for all sub-national roads throughout the country annually while the Department will only concentrate on the national roads and highways and the Connect PNG programme.