Re: Transportation Is Vital

Two things I think I need to point out here:

1) Rice is not grown because it is too labor-intensive???

I had to reread that twice. We have an abundance of labor, not a shortage of it. If rice is labor intensive, then let us employ the idle labor in cultivating it. That way we kill two birds with one stone: we reduce formal unemployment and increase production of a good in high demand.

2) The idea to build two supercities overlooks a lot of practical realities. The most important are:

- PNG is not like Japan or England where the population is homogenous. If you take someone from the North and South of both countries, and ask anyone to tell you - just by looking at them - where they are from; they will be very hard pressed to do so. In PNG, if you take someone just a few tens of kilometers away in some cases, you can immediately tell the differences.

Trying to plonk all this humanity with very, very different cultures and rates of development into a "mega city" and then hoping somehow they will mesh is crazy and misguided. You will compound the problems of Port Moresby (and Lae) a millionfold.

On a tangent --- the influx of people into Port Moresby, many from Stone age cultures (literally, and I say this as a matter-of-fact rather than in the perjorative sense) is unfortunate. These people cannot be assimilated and modernized. We do not have the structures in place to do this, nor the political will or brains to figure out that it is a problem in the first place.

This needs to be done at a measured pace with smart policy makers who know a bit of history and are willing to actually spend time learning rather than milling about chewing buai the whole day and planning their weekend romps.

OK enough of the hand wringing and "why PNG is so stuffed", here are some possible solutions in shorthand to the problems of Port Moresby primarily.

--> The influx of people in the city must be stemmed:
- Bring basic goods and services to the people in the villages and towns: Basic water, electricity, education and health.It's not difficult. Digicel did it with communication. What is the key lesson here? Give incentives for private enterprise to provide the services to the rural people. Real business people will determine what are the economically viable locations and these will be minor hubs - similar ethnic populations gathered in economically viable towns being provided basic services by Private enterprises run by REAL business people, not government employees who have NO CLUE about business.

--> The current populations in the settlements must be resettled - a moratorium on sale of customary land and an investigation into the lands department. Bring in Australian and New Zealand auditors to audit the lands department and suggest an equitable system to manage the 3% of land owned by the state. We have failed and are incompetent. Admit it and ask for help.

Look at the HDB scheme in Singapore -- all those pollies travel there, hopefully they are learning something at our expense -- yeah we pay taxes dammit -- land that is being squatted on should be sold to REAL developers who will build HDB-like flats (what the hell is a HDB??? use Google and do some research buddy) that are several stories tall (land is at a premium in Port Moresby, let's learn something from Manhattan) and rents will fall as the supply of housing increases. These flats are subsidized to some extent and will primarily be for "working-class" people in the settlements who need formal housing.

The financial arrangements I can expand in another thread if someone is interested in the details - those who have been unemployed for 5 years plus, lack basic education or skills training or have a criminal records can be repatriated to their home provinces.

Sorry guys, I've got other pressing matters and plus most people find it difficult to read more than 10 words at a stretch, so I hope this has been helpful. If anyone is interested in an expanded form of these ideas (i.e. if you think they have some merit) then tokSAVE and I'll write a longer piece expounding the ideas.