The Marape-Basil Government has a critical agenda to grow the economy, create the enabling environment, which in turn ensure that we effectively address the service delivery priorities this Government takes forward, as highlighted in the Loloata Leader's Commitments and the Medium Term Development Plan III 2018-2022. At the national level, the mobilisation of resources from development partners to support the Government's direct investments in priority sectors is a key element. Likewise, the Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme (or ITCS) is a critical resource opportunity that enhances the resource basket but it too, like the strategic support that Government gets from our Development Partners, is planned for, and aligned with Government's priorities.

The ITCS, is in fact, one of the most successful Public Private Partnership (PPP) Program in the development and delivery of infrastructures within the mining, oil, gas, primary industry impacted areas and throughout the rest of PNG.

The Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme (ITCS) has been in implementation for over 20 years, through an established mechanism as allowed by The ITCS is established and endorsed by law through the Income Tax Act, Section 219(C) where it allows the Government to utilise up to 2% FOB revenue of extractive sectors that would otherwise by paid as tax to government.

There are seven developers actively participating in the ITCS program. These are Oil Search Ltd, Ok Tedi Mining Ltd, Porgera Joint Venture, Newcrest Mining Ltd, New Britain Palm Oil Ltd, Ramu Agri Industries Ltd and ExxonMobil PNG Ltd.

In 2017, the National Government saw a need to review the management of other arrangements of the ITCS to give it a broad development outlook and to enable non-resource provinces to participate in the ITCS, with the intent to have a revised Guideline going forward. As such, a moratorium was on the approval of new projects.

No new projects were approved between September 2017 and December 2019. Through an intensive process of consultation with stakeholders, a revised ITCS Guideline was approved by the Government.

The implementation and management of the ITCS Programme is coordinated and overseen by the Department of National Planning and Monitoring through a Secretariat arrangement.

The ITCS projects were implemented in seven (7) provinces including Western, West Sepik, Enga, Southern Highlands, Hela, New Ireland and Central covering education, health, law and justice, utilities, transport and administration sectors. These projects range from the construction of school buildings and teachers' houses; provision of school materials; construction of district hospitals and health centres; construction of police stations and barracks; construction of roads and bridges; and construction and renovation of Government institutional houses.