By ESTELLA CHEUNG
ONLY 15 per cent of the 53,000 graduates who pass out of Papua New Guinean
institutions are able to find formal employment. First assistant secretary of
the Department of National Planning, Macro Planning Division, Joe Kapa said
yesterday to attendees of the Southern Regional Development Forum in Port
Moresby. "This means there are only about 8000 of graduates who are able to find
jobs. The government is aware that this is a huge problem for PNG," he said. Mr
Kapa said the Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) 2011-2015 would try to address
this issue and other using another approach he called the "sequencing
principle". "MTDP 2011-2015 will be using a sequencing principle which means
that, we have to do certain things right before we can think about
industrialisation and other things," Mr Kapa said. "Sequencing principle points
out what should be done first. They are not priorities but they are what we call
critical enablers that require more attention. So we have to get the foundation
and basics right, by addressing deteriorating infrastructure, transport
connectivity and law and order problem." He said these critical enablers have to
be corrected first before addressing agriculture, employment and private sector
investment, tourism and others in order for them to operate in a conducive
environment. PNG has experienced only 2.8 per cent Real GDP average growth
yearly since 1975. But since 1990, the formal employment growth rate has been
less than 3 per cent average. Since 1996, sectors such as the building industry
and transportation have not become fully operational yet, although the retail
sector has been steadily growing. "Some of the issues that make PNG an
unattractive place to invest are law and order issues, deteriorating
infrastructure, the constraint of commodities, low export, import dependency,
poor health services and high transport costs. PNG also falls in the bottom 9
per cent in the world in controlling corruption," Mr Kapa said. The forum is
open to the public in particular, from Port Moresby, and will end today.
Source: Post Courier, 06th May 2011
End of Article
