Bsip’S 5-Years Plan

Begins In 1955

Preparation work for a Five Years’ Development Plan for the British Solomon Islands is now well in hand. The plan is expected to be put into operation on April 1, 1955, and to cost about <£H million.

The Plan will be pruned or ex panded, depending on the generosity of the UK Government. The exact amount of money that will be available is not yet known, but total cost of projects drawn up in Honiara for the Plan, including a possible reserve fund, is £A 1,433,204. Part of this will be financed by BSIP’s share of Japanese assets, viz, £470,000.

In his address to the BSIP Advisory Council in Honiara in October, the High Commissioner, Sir Robert Stanley, outlined the main projects covered by the plan as follows; • A cocoa-growing scheme, in partnership with Levers Pacific Plantations (see elsewhere this issue). ° Establishment of an Agri cultural and Industrial Loans Board whose function will be to give financial assistance for the purpose of expanding or starting agricultural or industrial enterprise. This Board will not normally deal in short-term loans which might be attractive to commercial banks; it will accept risks slightly greater than a commercial bank. • Communications including £55,000 for roads and bridges, plus improved Fort facilities at Honiara.

(In connection with the latter, two experts, one from Ceylon and one from the UK Ministry of Transport, will shortly visit BSIP). • Establishment of a Teachers’

Training and Vocational Centre and a project for the training of nurses.