Case Study 2: NID project vs.

Project schedule management

Incompletion of PNG NID Project
The PNG National Identification (NID) card project was launched in November 2014 and slated to
become a universal ID card for all Papua New Guinean citizens. The card would contain information
on births, marriages, and deaths and become ID registers. It was a joint project with the Electoral
Commission, Civil Registry and the National Statistical Office (NSO) (Yama, 2014).

The former Minister for National Planning and Monitoring, Charles Abel, said K55 million had been
allocated in the 2015 National Budget to fund the project. The new ID cards would enable its holders
to open bank accounts and access small business loans, subsidized health care and school fees. In
February 2016, Mr Abel announced that over 150,000 people registered with the NID with the office
rolling out offices in various provinces including Morobe, Eastern Highlands and East New Britain
(Post-Courier, 2016).

However in January 2016 it became clear that it was not possible to get all the NID cards issued
before the start of the 2017 General Election. National Capital District governor Powes Parkop led
the criticism, saying the project should have started immediately following the 2012 general election
as this would have given it enough time to register all eligible voter [CITATION Loo16 \l 3081 ].

It is not clear how the K55 million in public funding was expanded in the 2015 financial year and if
the failure of the project to register all eligible voters before the start of the 2017 General Election
warrants further examination by oversight institutions. To date, the project partners Electoral
Commission, Civil Registry and the NSO are yet to release public documents showing how the K55
million was expanded.

In 2018, the NID Project once again came under the spotlight when the National Chief Statistician
Roko Koloma of the National Statistical Office (NSO) refused to surrender to police when he was
called in for questioning for an alleged misuse of K24 million assigned to the NSO [CITATION Zar18 \l
3081 ]. Mr Koloma’s refusal sparked calls for his suspension by organisations such as Transparency
International Papua New Guinea where TIPNG Chairman Lawrence Stephens called for Mr Koloma
and all citizens to comply with the efforts of legal authorities who are exercising constitutional
powers on behalf of us all [ CITATION Kol18 \l 3081 ]

The police obtained a warrant of arrest on April 13, 2018 but was not in effect after Koloma obtained
an interim stay order and made an application to the Waigani Committal Court. In July, 2018 the
application was refused by Magistrate Cosmas Bidar who stated that the police are entitled to apply
for a warrant of arrest at any court and are entitled to carry out their constitutional duties
[ CITATION Cou18 \l 3081 ]. In September 2018, the Public Service Minister Mr Elias Kapavore
announced the suspension of Koloma as the National Statistician and said that a Government team
led by Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari will investigate the alleged misuse of K24 million in the NSO
[ CITATION Fai18 \l 3081 ].

Although the NID registration has continued, there are complaints that the serious lack of funding
for the project has hindered the progress in several parts of the country such as Morobe which
needs K200 000 annually to successfully implement the project in the province [ CITATION Uka18 \l
3081 ] There is currently an ongoing Teacher NID registration Project aimed at registering the
teachers nationwide which began on the 24th of December 2018 and is expected to be completed
by the end of March, 2019 [ CITATION Tea19 \l 3081 ]
Case Study 2: NID project vs. Project schedule management
Incompletion of PNG NID Project
In January 2019, at the opening of the new NID office at Waigani, the Minister for National Planning
and Monitoring Mr Richard Maru announced that by the end of 2019, the Department aims to have
no less than two million people registered and have NID cards [ CITATION Wal19 \l 3081 ]. To ensure
there are no delays in reaching the target, Mr Maru has directed the registrar general to investigate
and secure printers capable of printing 5000 NID cards a day.

Despite these efforts, members of the public continue to raise concerns on the lengthy and slow
processes involved in registering and acquiring an NID card. These concerns have prompted Minister
Maru to urge the NID officers to fast-track the delivery of the project in the country [ CITATION
Ger19 \l 3081 ]. Reports reveal that the NID registration of 120,000 adults and 39, 000 children are
still pending however Minister Maru announced that the new NID Office at Waigani is expected to
operate 24 hours a day with three shifts employing new graduates [ CITATION Ger191 \l 3081 ]. This
is welcoming news as hundreds of people including recent graduates from universities will be
employed to work in the successful delivery of the project.

The NID Project has had its fair share of media coverage in recent times and most citizens are
looking forward to the successful completion of the project. However, the lack of funding and
logistics are some of the problems that continue to seriously affecting the operations of the project.
However from my opinion the Government should divert more resources to the NID Project to
successfully complete this project. And also increase the employment of more workers in the
registration process and the increase of NID card production per day will certainly be a positive step
in the right direction for the project because the National Planning and subsequently development
requires the state to be able to identify and plan for citizens individually and collectively.

Furthermore, Project management is a process that includes planning, putting the project plan into
action, and measuring progress and performance. Therefore simply get the right business needs
(requirements) understood early in the process and ensure that project management techniques are
applied and followed and the project activities are monitored.

The project manager must apply good project management discipline is the way to help reduce the
risks. Having good project management skills does not completely eliminate problems, risks, or
surprises. The value of good project management is that you have standard processes in place to
deal with all contingencies.

Moreover project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques applied
to project activities in order to meet the project requirements.

Therefore managing a project includes identifying your project’s requirements and writing down
what everyone needs from the project. What are the objectives for your project? When everyone
understands the goal, it’s much easier to keep them all on the right path. Make sure you set goals
that everyone agrees on to avoid team conflicts later on. Understanding and addressing the needs of
everyone affected by the project means the end result of your project is far more likely to satisfy
your stakeholders. Last but not least, as project manager, you will also be balancing the many
competing project constraints. On any project, you will have a number of project constraints that are
competing for your attention. They are cost, scope, quality, risk, resources, and time.
Case Study 2: NID project vs. Project schedule management
Incompletion of PNG NID Project
Last but not the least in order to overcome the problems the project manager must motivate their
employees because Motivation helps people work more efficiently and produce better results.
Motivation is a constant process that the project manager must guide to help the team move toward
completion with passion and a profound reason to complete the project. Motivating the team is
accomplished by using a variety of team-building techniques and exercises. Team building is simply
getting a diverse group of people to work together in the most efficient and effective manner
possible. This may involve management events as well as individual actions designed to improve
team performance.

The least is Problem solving which is the ability to understand the heart of a problem, look for a
viable solution, and then make a decision to implement that solution. The starting point for problem
solving is problem definition. Problem definition is the ability to understand the cause and effect of
the problem; this centres on root-cause analysis. If a project manager treats only the symptoms of a
problem rather than its cause, the symptoms will perpetuate and continue through the project life.
Even worse, treating a symptom may result in a greater problem. For example, increasing the
ampere rating of a fuse in your car because the old one keeps blowing does not solve the problem of
an electrical short that could result in a fire. Root-cause analysis looks beyond the immediate
symptoms to the cause of the symptoms, which then affords opportunities for solutions. Once the
root of a problem has been identified, a decision must be made to effectively address the problem.
Case Study 2: NID project vs. Project schedule management
Incompletion of PNG NID Project
Bibliography/Reference
Court refuses Koloma's application. The National. (2018, June 28). Retrieved from
https://www.thenational.com.pg/court-refuses-kolomas-application/

Faiparik, C. The National. (2018, September 28). Retrieved from

https://www.thenational.com.pg/team-to-investigate-claim-k24mil-misused-at-nso/

Gerega, L. Post Courier. (2019, January 15). Retrieved from https://postcourier.com.pg/maru-speed-

nid/

Gerega, L. Post Courier. (2019, January 15). Retrieved from https://postcourier.com.pg/nid-

registration-120000-adults-39000-children-still-pending/

Koloma's actions rebuked. Loop PNG. (2018, February 15). Retrieved from
http://www.looppng.com/png-news/koloma%E2%80%99s-actions-rebuked-73469

National Identity Project a failure. (2016, January 12). Loop PNG. Retrieved from
http://www.looppng.com/content/national-identity-project-failure

Teacher's NID registration underway. Loop PNG. (2019, January 10). Retrieved from
http://www.looppng.com/png-news/teachers%E2%80%99-nid-registration-underway-81765

Ukaha, J. The National. (2018, May 23). Retrieved from https://www.thenational.com.pg/lack-

funding-holds-nid-project/

Wali, M. Post Courier. (2019, January 15). Retrieved from https://postcourier.com.pg/new-moale-

haus-nid-registration/

Zarriga, M. Post Courier. (2018, February 11). Retrieved from https://postcourier.com.pg/koloma-

invited-police-interviewed/