West New Britain Governor Hon. Sasindran Muthuvel has called on the Government to pay its K539 million debt owed to various State-Owned Enterprises (SOE).
Governor Muthuvel, who was a former SOE minister, said he had initiated major SOE Reforms in 2019 that had attracted about USD500 million (K2 billion) worth of funding support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
He said this funding support would only be made possible on the condition that the Government paid all its outstanding arrears owed to SOEs.
“I have raised this same issue many times on the floor of Parliament for the Government to settle immediately all the outstanding money owed to various SOEs, mainly PNG Power Ltd (PPL), Water PNG, Air Niugini, Post PNG and Telikom.
“Imagine the largest customer, the Government, does not pay their utility bills such as power and water, so how do they expect these SOEs to run?
“Just on power and water utilities alone, the Government owes about K400 million out of the total K539 million debt, which has been stated by SOE Minister Hon. William Duma and confirmed by the respective SOEs.
Therefore, Governor Muthuvel has posed the following questions to the Government:
• How will you expect these SOEs to perform when you, the largest customer, don’t pay your bills?
• How will PPL pay for fuel or Water PNG pay for their chemicals to treat water?
• What happened to USD500 million (K2 billion) received from ADB under the SOE reform programme in 2019? (Paid in 3 installments Tranche1 USD 100m (K400m) Tranche2 USD 150m (K600m) and Tranche3 USD 250m (K1 Billion)
• How was this money spent and how much was used by Treasury?
• How much was given to Kumul Consolidated Holdings to settle the SOE bills?
“This is how all the profits are chewed and yet the Government has the audacity to blame these state-owned utility companies and even demanding to pay Dividend to Government?
“Is it because Government wants to run these SOEs down so that the creditors can take these companies to court and mak them liquidated?
“For example, independent power providers (IPP) are taking PPL to court because more than K700 million is owed to the three major IPPs (Niu Power, Dirio Power and newly opened Edevu Hydro).
“Why are we killing our SOEs which are owned by our people?
“If a private company can’t pay their bills, PPL gives a 48-hour notice and shuts their power off.
“Unfortunately, we cannot shut down power to Treasury or Prime Minister’s Office or any other government buildings.”
Governor Muthuvel appealed to the Government to have mercy on these state- owned companies which are owned by the people of Papua New Guinea.
“Pay their bills and let them breath.
“These SOEs employ thousands of workers so stop meddling with the affairs of these companies which are giving basic services to our people.
“Save these SOEs and we can save PNG.”
