OREANDA-NEWS. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a Country Partnership Strategy with Papua New Guinea (PNG) for 2016-2020 which will support the resource-rich country’s drive to remove infrastructure bottlenecks, and barriers to job and business creation.

The Country Partnership Strategy’s first Country Operations and Business Plan makes available \$637 million in resources to PNG between 2016 and 2018.

“ADB will help the Government of PNG achieve its goals of inclusive and environmentally sustainable growth through more investments in transport and energy, lowering the cost of trade and doing business, and creating job opportunities,” said ADB PNG Country Director, Marcelo Minc. “While there has been significant progress in recent years, much more remains to be done.”

PNG has experienced uninterrupted economic growth since 2002 thanks to sound macroeconomic management, foreign investment and high export commodity prices, but that growth has not yet trickled down from urban centers to rural areas, where 88% of the population lives. Agriculture has yet to fulfill its potential as a mechanism for reducing youth unemployment due to transport and other infrastructure weaknesses, and social indicators are lower than those of other countries with similar per capita income.

ADB’s partnership with PNG will focus on upgrading national transport networks to unlock the economic potential of rural workers, and to support their access to service delivery centers.  Support will be given for renewable energy development to expand access to power and replace costly and polluting diesel power facilities.

ADB will also step up help for rural primary healthcare, urban water supply and sanitation, and access to credit through the Microfinance Expansion Project, cofinanced by the Government of Australia. The microfinance initiative aims to provide basic financial education to up to 90,000 people by the end of 2017.

One of the areas where ADB and the government have made significant progress is upgrading the country’s major infrastructure assets. Last year, the government completed construction of the Lae Port Tidal Basin, significantly boosting cargo handling capacity at PNG’s busiest port. The government, with ADB support, is also rehabilitating 220 kilometers of national highways in the Highlands, which is improving access to markets and social services for rural communities in this mountainous region.

ADB’s other flagship activity, the Civil Aviation Development Investment Program, has improved safety and security and upgraded airport facilities in seven national airports, including Port Moresby’s Jackson airport.

PNG joined ADB in 1971 and is now ADB’s largest Pacific region borrower of loans for public and private sector development, while ADB is now PNG’s second-largest development partner. ADB’s active portfolio in the country currently totals \$1.1 billion, including 22 ongoing loans for 11 projects; 8 grants; 9 technical assistance projects, and 2 private sector loan and equity operations.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region.