The National Economic and Fiscal Commission is currently taking the lead in undertaking a Cost of Services Study (CoSS) for the Autonomous Region of Bougainville for the year 2023.
The purpose of the costing study is to answer the question “What is the cost-of-service delivery in Bougainville”.
Through this study NEFC is building on the experience it has got over the past 20 years of doing costing studies for the provinces right across the country.
NEFC does costing studies for all the provinces in a period of 5 years intervals excluding the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. The reason why Bougainville was not part of the previous studies is because Bougainville has special arrangement systems.
Given the Autonomous Region of Bougainville having special arrangements with PNG, NEFC is being tasked to conduct a separate cost of services study for its government.
The cost of services study for AROB covers the discussions on the progress made in the drawdown of powers and transfer of functions from the Government of PNG to AROB, what are the cost of government in AROB, what functions and costs remain uncertain, and how does the situation in AROB compare to similar provinces in terms of infrastructure and services.
National Economic and Fiscal Commission Chairman & CEO Patrick Kennedy Painap said, according to some of the study findings, part of the costs for the Bougainville Government is tied up to the National Government given most of the AROB government’s functions are still with the National Government.
“Cost of services like Education, Health, Transport, Works, Civil Aviation, Ports, Water and Power are partly tied up to the National Government,” he said.
Mr Painap described this study as very important for both the Governments of PNG and ABG.
Painap said, currently both governments do not know the actual cost of service delivery for the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
“The findings from this study will inform both governments, especially the PNG government on how much funding should be allocated to service delivery in AROB,” he said.
He said that with ABG the current planning and budgeting is based on estimated costs of studies previously undertaken by other sectors.
Apart from all provinces in the country, Bougainville and the National Capital District (NCD) have special arrangements and were not part of the NEFC Costing studies over the years.
Painap said, that with this study now being undertaken by NEFC, they will be able to set out the exact costs of each sector and where these cost centers (Districts, LLGs, Constituents) are so when it comes to service delivery, it will help in terms of planning and budgeting.
“There are three main studies currently being undertaken by NEFC, the function assignment determination- it determines what functions to be performed by each level of government, GIS Study is to map out the facilities including the travel routes and mode of travel, health and education and others like where the districts offices are, where the community government offices are, census units, census points, extension points, etc. All these will be mapped out” said Mr Painap.
When highlighting the need for this study, Painap said that with the current quest for autonomy arrangements by provinces like East New Britain, New Ireland, and Enga, this study will be the baseline for any future studies to be undertaken on these provinces if granted autonomy.
He said this study will also look at urban profiling- the cost of municipal services which hasn’t been captured in the previous studies.
Mr Painap said, that before doing the function assignment determination the study has to understand the governments and administrative structures of AROB.
In terms of looking at the drawdown of powers and transfer of functions from the Government of PNG to AROB and what functions and costs remain uncertain, Mr. Painap said NEFC is now in the process of having consultations with the National Coordinating Office of Bougainville Affairs (NCOBA) and other key line agencies listed under the Bougainville SHARPE Agreement to determine the progressive status on the drawdown of powers and functions.