BY SAMIE WAIKORI
The Siapu-led People’s Alliance for Change, Reform, and Advancement (PACRA) government of Makira Ulawa Province has assured its commitment to strengthening and exploring alternative revenue sources for the province.
This comes in response to the need to rebuild and enhance the province’s revenue base following a decline in logging production, which has been its primary source of revenue.
“As we understand, the major revenue earner for the province is logging. However, production has begun to decline due to the scarcity of forests.
“In the next few years, we may end up with no logging operations, or licenses may no longer be issued to logging companies in the province.
“With that in mind, the PACRA government is exploring alternative opportunities to generate revenue for the province,” Siapu said.
He stated that the first alternative revenue source the province will explore is land transfer from the national government to the provincial government.
“My government sees the transfer of land from the national government to the province as an opportunity to boost revenue.
“This will be achieved through land rentals and property rates,” he said.
Siapu added that another potential revenue source his government will explore is tourism.
He highlighted the recent discovery of the largest marine coral at Three Sisters Islands as a significant opportunity for tourism development in the province.
“We will be looking at how we can prepare ourselves to capitalize on this tourism opportunity,” the premier said.
He also emphasized that one of his government’s key priorities is the development of the productive sector in the province.
“My government aims to boost cocoa and coconut production.
“At the moment, we have a cocoa factory in the province, and we must find ways to improve cocoa production to sustain it.
“We understand that cocoa and coconut production has begun to decline, so our focus right now is on rehabilitation,” Siapu said.
Furthermore, he stated that his government is committed to establishing fishery centers in the province.
“We are exploring ways to generate income from the fisheries sector.
“This includes utilizing provincial land and working with the national government to allocate it to potential investors interested in fisheries,” Siapu said.
He concluded by stating that his government is working on several initiatives to explore potential areas for development and stimulate economic growth in the province.
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