Economic development in the absence of infrastructure?
I just returned from Papua New Guinea, considered among the most remote places on Earth with 70% of the country still unexplored.
On the world’s 2nd largest island, it is the 3rd largest island nation, larger than Japan or the UK. While it shares part of its border with the largest island nation, Indonesia-with a population of nearly 300 million, nobody knows the actual population of Papua New Guinea given the difficulty of reaching its more than 5,000 remote tribes. It is also home to 20% of the world’s known languages – with over 850, and the 3rd largest rainforest, housing 5% of the world’s biodiversity.
I was there on behalf of FHI360, a global humanitarian aid organization that has been providing health care and economic development in this country for over 30 years with a local team currently of about 50.
I’ve been to many of the poorest countries in the world, but never one with less infrastructure. Most of the nation is off-grid from electricity and with limited access to communication. Even in the capital city such services are sporadic and subpar. For transportation, there is no train, few bicycles, and most of the country is not even accessible by roads.
One of our local health care partners spoke of sending a team to visit their field hospital for the first time, which required his staff to travel by car until the roads ended, before setting off on a 3-day hike, sleeping in local villages on their way.
This is all highly unfortunate for a nation with such a large footprint and abundant natural resources. Foreign exploitation of their mineral and energy wealth such as gold, natural gas and oil partially explains the extreme inequality of their economy, with severe poverty rates contributing to its status as one of the world’s most violent countries.
My hope is that this nation will find a means to develop its economy without degrading its natural and human treasure of diversity. Only time will tell, in a place that has remained so untouched by time. But I return to you with an even greater appreciation for the importance of critical infrastructure, and the challenges of economic development in its absence.
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