The Rabaul District Administration has launched a total of ten Rural Service Delivery Projects (RSDP) on September 22.
These projects include four ward halls, a women’s resource centre and five water catchment areas in the Balanataman Local Level Government (LLG).
The Rural Service Delivery projects launched were Raluan No.2 Ward Hall, Malaguna No.3 Women’s Resource Centre, Malaguna No.2 Ward Hall and Nonga village Ward Hall.
Water catchment project areas included Raluan No.1 Ward, Malaguna No.3 Ward, Tavui 1 & 2 Wards and Iawakaka Ward.
Speaking during the closing of these projects launching yesterday at Iawakaka ward was RSDP Coordinator Mr. Paul Kapa, who explained that Balanataman LLG of Rabaul district was selected to pilot the program.
“This RSDP program is world bank funded and looks at community driven projects that can benefit communities; and it complements the provincial administrations’ focus on ward governance.”
He further announced that Rabaul is the first district to have completed all its 12 RSDP projects and added that for Volavolo and Ratavul ward halls, the launching will be on a later date due to on-going law and order issues.
The RSDP Coordinator commended the wards for meeting all the compliance requirements and handed over the certificate of completion and audit reports.
Meantime, Rabaul District Administrator Freddy Lemeki, commended the RSDP and the district team in ensuring that all projects met compliance requirements and was completed on time.
He said that most of these wards have been without proper ward halls and water catchments for a long time and added that these projects also fulfil some of the ward minimum standards that are required by the government.
Lemeki further encouraged wards to look after the newly launched projects and urged communities to take ownership of each project by having their operation and maintenance plans in place.