Municipal duties fall on new Mt Hagen city authority

Mt Hagen City Authority to manage municipal services. Photo
credit to Niugini Exotic Tours

The Mt Hagen City Authority will now be responsible for the management of municipal services in the capital of Western Highlands, according to Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.
This follows the unanimous passing in Parliament of the Mt Hagen City Authority Bill by 77 votes to nil.
O’Neill said Mt Hagen was a “focal trading point for many provinces in the highlands”.
“I’m sure that we have all travelled to Mt Hagen at some point, and seen for ourselves the state of the town and of course the services that are provided in that city,” O’Neill said.
“There are examples of mountains of rubbish lining the streets of Mt Hagen today. Such a situation is unacceptable. We need to do something so that we can manage our cities better. This bill will create a new statutory authority, the Mt Hagen City Authority, which will be responsible for the management of municipal services in the greater Mt Hagen area.”
He said the authority would not replace the existing local level government.
“The Mt Hagen Rural and Urban local level governments will continue to operate. The local level governments will be responsible for the overall coordination and budgeting. They will continue to impose regulations, collect taxes, and of course pass laws in that legislation,” he said.