By MATTHEW VARI
Wednesday, September 4, 2013 (Midweek Chronicle, )
PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill said that rural to urban migration is a right of the people, last week at the groundbreaking ceremony of the construction of a new city hall building, in Port Moresby.
He referred to the government’s recent announcement of plans to concentrate resources to major cities and towns where the population is predicted to grow at a high rate.
“We’ve looked at the trend of people moving in to the cities and towns from rural areas, and we have identified our major urban areas have a huge burden of trying to cater for the constant increase in their populations.”
“We cannot blame those moving in, and we cannot remove them- urban drift is a right of the people, who are in search of opportunities to improve their lives,” he said.
The PM said that the government would work closely with city and town authorities to improve conditions within the urban sectors of the country.
“We’ve identified four major areas that have high migration rates from rural areas- Port Moresby, Lae, Mt Hagan, and Kokopo, where high population growths are predicted in the years to come.”
“So we are going to develop all growing towns and cities, we have no choice but to invest in these cities, however, that does not mean we will forget about the other areas of the country,” he added.
NCD Governor Powes Parkop, made mention of urban drift being one that should be adapted to rather then being seen as an issue.
In his opening address at the ceremony he told the PM that the NCD Commission would not shy away from the issue in light of the huge influx into the city.
Saying that on top of huge investments in infrastructure development- equal emphasis should also be put into the social development of the people.
“We should not pretend that some how in the future someone will come up with a mechanism to stop rural urban migration- it has not happened anywhere in the world.”
“No government in the world has succeeded, and we should not pretend that here in our capital city, we will stop rural urban migration,” he pointed out.
To help address the influx, the governor announced plans by the commission to convert Eight Mile settlement into a suburb- referring to it being a milestone in city development in the country.
“For the first time in this nation we are going to arrest this problem of settlement.”
“When we achieve this, other major settlements to follow suit like Nine Mile, ATS, Burns Peak, Five mile, and Six Mile, so we can a truly developed capital able to cater for its people,” he said.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013 (Midweek Chronicle, )
PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill said that rural to urban migration is a right of the people, last week at the groundbreaking ceremony of the construction of a new city hall building, in Port Moresby.
He referred to the government’s recent announcement of plans to concentrate resources to major cities and towns where the population is predicted to grow at a high rate.
“We’ve looked at the trend of people moving in to the cities and towns from rural areas, and we have identified our major urban areas have a huge burden of trying to cater for the constant increase in their populations.”
“We cannot blame those moving in, and we cannot remove them- urban drift is a right of the people, who are in search of opportunities to improve their lives,” he said.
The PM said that the government would work closely with city and town authorities to improve conditions within the urban sectors of the country.
“We’ve identified four major areas that have high migration rates from rural areas- Port Moresby, Lae, Mt Hagan, and Kokopo, where high population growths are predicted in the years to come.”
“So we are going to develop all growing towns and cities, we have no choice but to invest in these cities, however, that does not mean we will forget about the other areas of the country,” he added.
NCD Governor Powes Parkop, made mention of urban drift being one that should be adapted to rather then being seen as an issue.
In his opening address at the ceremony he told the PM that the NCD Commission would not shy away from the issue in light of the huge influx into the city.
Saying that on top of huge investments in infrastructure development- equal emphasis should also be put into the social development of the people.
“We should not pretend that some how in the future someone will come up with a mechanism to stop rural urban migration- it has not happened anywhere in the world.”
“No government in the world has succeeded, and we should not pretend that here in our capital city, we will stop rural urban migration,” he pointed out.
To help address the influx, the governor announced plans by the commission to convert Eight Mile settlement into a suburb- referring to it being a milestone in city development in the country.
“For the first time in this nation we are going to arrest this problem of settlement.”
“When we achieve this, other major settlements to follow suit like Nine Mile, ATS, Burns Peak, Five mile, and Six Mile, so we can a truly developed capital able to cater for its people,” he said.
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