Australia to provide A$50m for churches in Papua New Guinea

CHURCHES will be provided funding from the Australian government to continue to provide health and education services in Papua New Guinea, The National reports.

The churches play a very crucial role in delivering these services in the rural areas of PNG. They are present in areas where often the government, at provincial and national level, does not penetrate into. Over time, this has meant that people have grown to trust the church more than the government in delivering these services.

During the Australia-PNG bilateral meeting in Alotau this week, the role of churches in delivering a better outcome for the Australian aid programme was discussed.

Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith announced that, consistent with the review recommendations that the aid programme deliver better outcomes, Australia would support a PNG church partnerships programme.

This would comprise A$50 million over five years starting this year.

The programme would also help Australian churches work with their PNG counterparts to implement health, education and community development activities.

The PNG delegation welcomed this initiative.

This was one of a number of outcomes agreed upon at the conclusion of the meeting in Alotau yesterday.

It was also agreed during the meeting that the PNG liquefied natural gas (LNG) project represented a significant opportunity for PNG to transform the economy, and ministers noted the progress on the design of the sovereign wealth funds, which the Australian government is helping to set up.

The ministers agreed that Australia’s current level of overseas development assistance to PNG would not be affected by any commitments to assist with the implementation of the LNG project.

The ministers also agreed that the PNG LNG project was a schedule-driven project to meet commercial obligations and the timely delivery of this project would auger well for future investments in PNG.

The commercial obligations were mainly from bankers who had provided funding for the project, and wanted to see an outcome at the scheduled time.

The US$17 billion project has started with infrastructure development at project sites, and the first LNG cargo is expected to leave PNG shores in late 2013 or early 2014.