Mahesh Patel

This was the sentiment shared by the CPL Group managing director during a Young Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry networking event.

The Young Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce & Industry is a sub-committee of the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce & Industry, or POMCCI.

Its focus is to develop the potential of the next generation of business managers and leaders by facilitating their personal development and providing a platform for mentoring.

CPL Managing Director, Mahesh Patel, said currently CPL caters for a small fraction of the population and wants to increase that, especially with pharmacies.

Patel said they will also open a new retail branch in Western Province.

“For new shops we’re opening another one in Mt Hagen, also the availability of sites.

“We’ve earmarked about 10 new pharmacies being opened around the country because we only cater for 25 percent to 30 percent of the population.

This will be through improved customer service and offering of local goods.

He added the reopening was a new beginning for the retail chain as it embarks on a new journey.

Following its surprise opening yesterday, Stop N Shop Central Waigani is touted as a fresh start for the CPL group, which has gone through very challenging times.

Patel said the shop will set the benchmark for it to move forward.

“This becomes the benchmark so the whole idea is to roll out and upgrade our other Stop N Shops, our other pharmacies.

The refurbished building is currently being stocked in anticipation for its opening next week.

It is a rebuilding phase, says CPL Managing Director Mahesh Patel, and a rebranding is part of this phase.

CPL staff and contractors are currently hard at work putting in the final touches to the Central Waigani Supermarket, which was shut down in 2015 due to a massive fire.

Patel said it’s been a long time coming for the reopening following a series of unfortunate events hampering its resumption.

In a letter dated February 28^th to the Port Moresby Stock Exchange, Patel takes over the role from, Joe Barberis, as of March 1^st.

Patels appointment means he steps down as CPL Chairman, which will be assumed by current non-executive director, John Dunlop, until a permanent appointment is made later in the year.

The announcement was made after CPL completed a successful capital raising of K48 million by existing and new shareholders.

A week on from the fire that engulfed the CPL warehouse, Patel told Loop PNG that the decision to stop trading was a normal thing to do.

Immediately following the fire, POMSOX announced the ‘Trading Halt’.

“It’s a normal thing in the stock exchange of any public listed company. Because of uncertain speculation, we thought let’s hold that while we assess everything then we can do proper announcement on the loss we suffered, what the insurance situation is and how we are going to build it,” Patel said.

He said they are not panicking at this stage but moving ahead to ensure supplies remain consistent.

The move follows the destruction of its central warehouse in Port Moresby following a massive fire on Monday.

In an interview with Loop PNG, Patel said because of their experience with the delay in delivering supplies on time, their pharmacies hold months in supplies.

He said supply chain issues meant that pharmacies held up to two months of drug supplies, given the amount of time it arrives in country and then distributed to provinces.

He said there remains positivity despite the fire destroying months of supplies and displacing almost 300 staff.

The CPL warehouse, which services 30 – odd pharmacies around the country and 10 supermarkets, burnt to the ground in the early hours of Monday morning.

In an interview with TVWAN, Patel said the board and management is currently taking stock of the damage and should be able to determine within the next couple of weeks the extent of losses.

He said they also had to re-deploy some staff while others have been told to stay home.

He said this in response to demands for his removal as Board Chairman by the Communication Workers Union (PNG CWU) amid serious conflict of interest accusations and allegations.

The claims have also been the subject of debate in social media following the publication of the allegations by bloggers.

The PNG CWU on Monday during a sit-in protest also, called for the removal of John Mangos as Managing Director of Kumul Telikom, and for the merger between Telikom, Bemobile and DataCo to be stopped.