The Government is considering a National Road Safety Campaign. It will involve a National Road Safety Council to ensure that all “relevant agencies become the owners and provide leadership for the Campaign”.
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| DPrime Minister and Minister for Public Utilities unveil plaque on 48 km of tarsealed road at Takara |
On the note, the Pr thanked the Public Works Department for continuing to strengthen the road programs which will include Road Safety and Maintenance and Training.
PM Natapei specifically thanked Downer EDI Works for announcing a number of prizes that they handed over to children who participated in the road safety program. “I wish to congratulate the PWD and EDI Works for their initiative to encourage children to see the importance of the programs and take part in them”, he said.
He also thanked Downer EDI Works for “the excellent work done”.
The Government is well aware of the catastrophic threat as a result of population explosion due to teenage pregnancies and urban drift which increases unemployment.
Using the realities as an example for the urgent call for urgent assistance, he said while he is in Government, he will continue to “persistently call on our development partners” to help the country invest most resources into capital investment such as infrastructure in order to expand the economic powerhouse of the country.
But the new roads in Santo and Efate have opened the door for people to buy more vehicles to crowd the traffic which vehicles which in turn poses danger on the roads.
For this reason, the Government will need to act quickly to introduce the National Road Safety Campaign.
The Prime Minister ended his address on a rather shocking note by telling the public about a letter of complaint which was written undoubtedly by a coward who was too scared to sign his or her name at the end of the letter.
The letter accused him of “begging” from donor partners for money to develop the country’s infrastructure. The letter said, “Aren’t you ashamed that your country has power people that live in it? Aren’t you ashamed that you go abroad to receive money (from donor partners) while your own Government has not raised any money with which to develop its infrastructure?”
But the Prime Minister said to begin with, he is a poor “kid” of Vanuatu and shares their life style every weekend. “It is true that I drive a G vehicle but I do not have any vehicle of my own and when I finish my term in the Government, I will return as a poor kid to live with my poor people”, he replied.
But he won’t bower down to the unsigned letter saying he will continue to approach the donor partners for their tax payers’ money to help fund the infrastructure of the country.
As for the MCC funding totalling $US65.69 million from the United States of America, the Prime Minister said his Government never requested it. “They (US Government) assessed our performance based on the Reform Process that we started and thanks to the Minister for Public Utilities for initiating the Reform Process, they said Vanuatu was qualified to be given some of their tax payers’ money to fund our infrastructure”.
But he stressed that until such time that “we (in Government) have built a sufficient infrastructure from which to launch our economic development programs, we cannot get out from the present position”.
- Len Garae