Rural electrification in Papua New Guinea : an assessment of a pilot micro-hydroelectricity project

Abstract

The study presented here is an investigation of rural electrification in Papua New Guinea using a case method approach. The case study rural electricity scheme is a two-stage pilot micro- hydroelectricity project located in the remote Nabak Region of Morobe and known as the Umbang-Baindoang project. Both stages of the project are described and their short-term socio-economic impacts are assessed and compared with the likely impacts of other rural development projects with which they were competing. The planning and management aspects of the project were divided into four main phases: 1) planning, appraisal and design; 2) selection, appraisal and activation; 3) operation, control and handover; and 4) evaluation and refinement. Specific tasks were further identified within each of the four phases and each task and phase was evaluated in terms of its influence on project outcomes. This thesis shows that the tasks associated with implementing both stages of the Umbang-Baindoang micro-hydroelectricity project were performed satisfactorily and that the two project managers who were appointed to oversee this phase of the scheme, one from the host agency and the other from the local community, were central to its success. The study provides details on the skills and attributes they each possessed to perform their jobs well. The villagers who filled the technical and managerial positions in the completed project were found not to have performed their jobs well because the complementary training programmes which they required were not provided by the host agency. Having recognised the need for more emphasis to be placed on project operation and maintenance in the future, the planning and management framework used in the present study has been refined to include a new phase, called project sustainment, between phases 3 and 4. The specific tasks associated with the new phase are identified and discussed in some detail. The pattern of use of electricity in both Umbang, which received electricity in Stage 1 of the project, and Baindoang, which received electricity in Stage 2, support the hypothesis that the introduction of electricity to a rural community will affect different social groups in widely divergent ways. From the assessment made of the impacts of electricity on the Umbang and Baindoang communities it was concluded that careful attention should be paid to the interests of at least three social groups; 1) women, 2) young men and 3) older men. The learning experiences, lifestyles and social status of those three social groups are different and these factors, plus levels of incomes, interact together to determine the impact of electricity on an individual. Overall, it was concluded that the benefits associated with electricity end-use applications in both Umbang and Baindoang were not large and that the needs of the communities would have been better served by some other kind of rural infrastructure project (in Umbang) and rural energy project (in Baindoang). The case-study thus supports the suggestion raised in Papua New Guinea's White Paper on Energy that electricity may not be a high priority need among rural communities. It emphasises the need for rural electrification proposals to be appraised in a broad rural development framework and funded only after the opportunity costs have been carefully considered and compared. The thesis includes a detailed discussion of the policy implications of the Umbang-Baindoang micro-hydroelectricity project. It notes that rural electrification project appraisal teams will need to be multidisciplinary if they are to assess properly, along with the community itself, the most pressing requirements of that community. It also notes that, in cases where electrification is determined to be the most desirable development option, the most outstanding policy question is Papua New Guinea's capacity to provide the requisite technical and administrative support. It discusses possible organisational structures. It concludes that the implementation of justifiable rural electrification projects on a sustainable basis will require the coordinated inputs of various individuals and organisations involved in rural development work and that the need for the establishment of effective and strong communication channels between the various organisations remains paramount. Show more