R

egencies of Paniai, Mappi, Puncak, Asmat and Mimika are facing many challenges to their development, and are lagging behind other regencies in Papua province, particularly in terms of autonomy and budget issues.

A recent working meeting involving the five regencies prioritized infrastructure issues, revealing, for example, a lack of well-developed roads to facilitate travel from the regency capital to district capitals and subdistricts in Paniai regency and Puncak regency.

Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu and Deputy Governor Alex Hesegem attended the meeting.

Heavy damages were spotted along 10 kilometers of road from Nabire regency's capital Nabire to Paniai regency's capital Enarotali, according to a report presented by Daulat Tampubolon.

Unasphalted sections have resulted in mud ponds and have caused trucks and cars passing through to reach Paniai in weeks, compared to one-day in a hardtop car.

Puncak regency - a split of Puncak Jaya regency - is the most underdeveloped among the five regencies due its recent establishment, of less than a year ago.

Similarly, Mappi regency has yet to see significant development of roads from Mappi - the regency capital - to districts and sub-districts.

A highway from Merauke regency to Mappi regency has been completely destroyed, affecting staple food deliveries.

Meanwhile, Asmat regency, particularly the regency capital Agats, is in dire need of elevated buildings and infrastructure, including roads, to connect one building to another, as most of the area has been swamped. Water transportation is the most common way of accessing the regency's districts and subdistricts.

In Mimika regency, a 54-kilometer road is urgently needed to connect Mimika Barat district to Mimika Timur.

Besides infrastructure, the five regencies also share the same problems in meeting demands of teachers, medics and healthcare facilities, particularly in remote areas.

The limited number of doctors and paramedics has become an obstacle for regency administrations to build public hospitals, while existing public health centers (Puskesmas) in remote and mountain areas are lacking proper facilities to examine and treat people contracting HIV/AIDS, or those suffering malaria.

In the educational field, more teachers are in demand in schools in the five regencies' districts and sub-districts, including those located in remote and mountain areas.

A set of incentives, including proper houses in districts and subdistricts, are necessary to attract teachers, who prefer to live in cities, to get closer to their schools.

Daulat said budgetary issues also challenged development in the five regencies.

Newborn regencies, including Puncak regency, are likely to blame for their delay in drafting and deliberating their budgets, as well as having them approved.

In addition, many subdistricts belatedly received Rp 200 million (US$9,640) worth of funds due to red-tape, or topography factor that made it more difficult to reach targeted subdistricts.

The funds are part of a strategic plan to develop subdistricts (Respek) under the Community Empowerment Program (PNPM).

Under the strategic plan, every subdistrict is entitled between Rp 200 million and Rp 100 million from the administration of Papua province and the other Rp 100 million from their regency administrations.

However, Daulat revealed many of total 28 regencies have not completely complied with that requirement, leaving subdistricts with only Rp 100 million, despite the fact that many subdistricts may require more due to their remote location, or topographical factors, which further challenge their development.

He also cited a lack of coordination between the administration of Papua province and regency administrations as a cause of the lack of compliance. Therefore, a coordinating team needs to be established in all regencies.

In addition, the underdeveloped regencies are prone to conflicts as they have yet to have clear boundaries in mapping, and tended to claim their territories through a variety of methods.

This may trigger fears among residents.

Governor Barnabas said his team would study the report, while waiting for reports from other working meetings between the regencies.