Why Moreby’s ranked poorly

Letters

A MONTH ago, the Economic Intelligence Unit ranked Port Moresby as one of the “10 worst cities to live in the world in 2017”.
The ranking is calculated from the index of each of the liveable factors like stability, healthcare, education, culture/environment, and infrastructure.
So one would wonder why Port Moresby was ranked one of the 10 worst cities in the world in 2017. The answer is simple.
The index is a weighted index of all factors that contribute to enhancing better living standards.
The government is building new, state-of-the-art infrastructures in Port Moresby but what about the street lights at the Bomana Correctional Services Institute (CIS) and jail compounds, or the quality of the road leading to ATS?
One way or the other, the presence of poor infrastructures are part of the city’s image and they have a lot to speak about the city, so they counts here.
Also, in the area of culture and environment, the NCDC is very concerned about beautification efforts and the staging of the country’s diverse cultural practices yearly, but then there is the problem of littering, dust and air pollution, squatter settlements and barbed wires and business operations inside residential areas. Lack of efficient regulations might be the course, but it also counts here. You must know that Port Moresby is the gateway to Papua New Guinea and foreigners do get a first impression of PNG after their first glimpse of Port Moresby, so the report means a lot to them and how the international community views us.
While it creates that kind of outside perceptions which provides a method of comparison and competition among different cities in the world It also means a lot to ourselves. In other words, it measures the living standard of a person living in Port Moresby against someone else who is living in each of a group of selected cities across the world, and that can be a reality depending on rational judgment of the average person.
The report actually has nothing to do with the flamboyance of the media or how the outside world views Port Moresby as suggested by many people, but it has to do with reality, and that’s how we view Port Moresby ourselves.
It is reflective of the gravity and urgency of how Port Moresby should be like as it is in the mind of someone who isn’t given either too much exaggeration, top short luxury or nerd, skid row discomforts but someone who is just right in between these extremes and residing in Port Moresby in 2017.
Port Moresby at the end of the day, belongs to us all.

Mike Haro