29 Apr 2002

Vanuatu's opposition NUP says it would scrap the Comprehensive Reform Programme

3:11 pm on 29 April 2002

The Secretary General of Vanuatu's opposition National United Party, Willie Jimmy, says he believes the country needs to take a more aggressive attitude towards attracting foreign investment.

The country goes to the polls this Thursday, and Mr Jimmy says an NUP government would do away with the comprehensive reform programme.

The CRP has been in place since the mid-nineties and is aimed at making government services more efficient.

But Mr Jimmy says the policy has failed to perform:

"That is the service delivery, the encouragement of private sector policy initiatives. We haven't seen it since CRP came into place and we haven't seen where does the CRP tighten the strings so what's the point of having CRP there when the services that it's supposed to deliver are not being delivered as expected."

Mr Jimmy says an NUP government would rationalise and extend land leases to attract foreign investment.