The Development of Provinces Initiative

[Michael Dervin OCS]

From the Office of the President of Ocia
His Excellency, Mr. Michael Dervin OCS

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My fellow Citizens,

Today I wish to announce a Presidential Plan, which will upon receiving the consent of the Federal Assembly, pave the way to re-developing and advancing the Ocian Provinces, both new and old, so that they may become like Ocia as a whole, a world leader in modernisation and technological advances and developments for provinces unseen anywhere else in the micronational world. This plan comes after continued neglect of the provinces by previous administrations, who focused more on Ocia as a whole and plainly forgot the little pieces which slot together to make this jigsaw puzzle called Ocia, these pieces are our provinces and finally a administration is taking heed after so long of neglect and is going to do something about it and make a lasting change which will truly ensure the provinces are put back on the agenda and are the forefront of everyone’s minds. This plan which will bring a renaissance to the provinces will be called “The Development of Provinces Initiative (DPI)”.

The plan is a follows:

• The Ministry of the Interior or its agents will be tasked with producing a detailed map for each province on both the GSO and the MCS. This map will provide a solid foundation in which the Provinces can be developed and will also be posted in each provinces’ individual board on the forum fro quick and easy reference.
  
  
• OciaRail or its Agents will be given funding by Financial Partners in this Plan and by its own funding, to take these new maps and develop and build a modern and world leading rail network for each province, which will in turn link up to build a national and local network. OciaRail will also be tasked with building National, Regional, Local and Commuter Routes and Lines for each province in ensuring competitiveness for both price and quality on all its routes and lines. This plan will allow for the building of train lines and their construction, construction of stations and all works associated with, the purchase of new trains and the hiring of new staff.
  
  
• Monies will be made available for the construction and development of roads and motorways in each province in building a apt and developed regional infrastructure for each province. This will also be done on the map developed by the MoI.
  
  
• The Ministry of the Interior will develop each region’s industry and business based upon its local resources and infrastructure and locate each business and industry to the apt province. E.G. A Logging Company will be located in a area with lots of trees, whereas Telecommunication service would not be located here but near a city or telephone exchange etc… In addition each new business/industry will receive from the Ministry of the Interior a grant towards the cost of setting up a company and as starting capital, provided the business/industry satisfies the Ministry it will be profitable within 2 years. Already established businesses/industries will receive tax exemptions on a number of items to be discussed in a bill presented to the Federal Assembly.
  
  
• The Ministry of the Interior is to conduct a census of the current citizens in Ocia and based upon their choice or otherwise, assign them evenly to every province in the Ocian Federation. This will be their unchangeable Home Province for life, unless the Ministry of the Interior grants a Petition allowing them to move.
  
  
• In the coming weeks, the Office of the President will introduce to the Assembly a Bill, allowing the formation and defining the function of Provincial Assemblies, one for each province, with the number of seats in the province depending on the population of the province. This Bill will allow to a certain degree self governance of each province, which will encourage each province’s self development and will lighten the work load on the Assembly. Also, further bills for the introduction of Provincial Courts and Laws will be discussed in the Assembly. The elections for the Provincial Assembly will take place at the same time as the Federal Assembly Elections and only residence of a certain province may run for their Provincial Assembly. This Bill will also allow for the creation of a Governor, elected by the Provincial Assembly, with similar powers to the Prime Minister but on a local level.
  
  
• The Office of the President will also be introducing a Bill to the Assembly, for the establishment of a Trade Network between each province, which will be managed and governed by the Ministry of the Interior. The goal of this Network is to allow for the proper and orderly trade between every province and to ensure that all province has access to every resource in the Federation as well as promoting growth in the local economy.
  
  
• Airports and Seaports (where applicable) of all provinces will be developed, with a view to being large enough to support the growing demand on each airport and seaport. More routes will be arranged with all air carriers and handsome tax deductions will be introduced for the less profitable routes in connecting the Provinces overseas and those in Ocia Proper. The Air and Sea routes will be developed on a map by the Ministry of the Interior.
  
  
• The Government will look into the possibility of decentralisation, e.g. re-locating the offices of each Ministry to different parts of Ocia outside the capital in order to allow for the development of these ministries and their expansion outside the capital, and ensure a open access to all who wish to partake in a civil servant job.
  
  
  
• The Ministry of Finance will make available in the budget, monies to the provinces in order to spend in their own development as they see fit, by their own provincial assembly and government.
  
  
• The Following will make up the Financial Parties in this Plan: Private, Semi-State and State Bodies and Companies, so far these are: The Government of Ocia (all Ministries), The President of the Ocian Federation, Dervin & Co. Legal Services Ltd.. If you wish to add your company or donate individually please PM me with details.
  
  

This is the plan so far for the DPI, which will be updated and developed as soon as one goal has been achieved in order to ensure to continuous development of each of our provinces.

The Office of the President looks forward to seeing this plan become a reality, but only with your help and support! So, do your bit in building the Ocia of the Future and make a difference!


For the Federation:

Signed


Michael Dervin OCS
President of the Ocian Federation

[Matt Kovac]

Mr. President,

I applaud you for your phenomenal effort to help Ocia become more organized. I shall see that this is seen through.

[chris288]

I am against this. We must not decentralize, it absolutely kills activity. There should be one legislature, one executive, and one judiciary. No more!

[Michael Dervin OCS]

Mr. Stevenson,

I think you have gotten the wrong end of the stick here, so to speak. I am not going to split the government up, I am merely proposing at this stage to locate the different Ministries to different parts in Ocia, e.g. Ministry of the Interior to North Point, Ministry of Justice to November City, in a bid to move the Government Offices outside of the Capital and allow every citizen in Ocia access to a government job in these Ministries, rather than having to uproot themselves and move to the Capital to avail of these jobs.

[chris288]

I mean that the States should not have independent legislatures.

[King Kakali OCS]

maybe we could put a clause in the law that states taht there has to be X numbers of active citizens in a province for there to be a legislature? and until then the provinces would be under the control of the Interior ministry.....

O, btw, the law needs to be updated to Say 'Finance and Interior Ministry', not 'Interior Ministry'

[Michael Dervin OCS]

I was thinking along the same lines and thought rather than clog up the "summary" of the plan with too many details, which would just make this look messy and complicated to say the least, that I would put these details in a seperate plan when I tackle each of the issues, once I get the Assembly's Permission which is currently pending.

As the Ministries change so many times, it would not be wise to keep changing the law as this would be a waste of time and effort, but rather the Law acknowledges the changes in the Ministries without the law being changed itself.

[King Kakali OCS]

Noted. I do like the plans of developing the provinces, and keeping it so that it only goes into effect when the population warrents it (ie, not at the moment). I am curious how the president is intending to 'move' the ministries to the various provinces. Is this to be refelected on the forum?

[Michael Dervin OCS]

Given the layout of the Forum and that people don't want to browse through every province board to see what is going on in a certain Ministry, the forum layout of the Ministries will not be changed by this plan. Instead, I am planning to "move" people so to speak, that if you are appointed a Minister of a Ministry, e.g The MoI&F and that Ministry is located in November City, then the Minister and all his staff will be moved to November City to work in the Ministry and thus they will become residence of November City and have a vote in November City rather than their other former province. Also, if someone lives in November City, s/he can work in the MoI&F, without moving, but if s/he decides to work in another Ministry then s/he will have to move. This will allow provinces to become evenly populated and Ministries staffed by local people from each province and allow equal growth throughout the whole nation.