PNG Power

Minister Pruaitch made this comment yesterday after the launch of the Asian Development Bank Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative (PSDI) report titled; Finding Balance 2016 Report on Performance of State-owned Enterprises in Pacific Island countries.

“The Government is borrowing so much to fund State-Owned Enterprises, and we need a policy on dividends payment,” he said.

“A submission in relation to this board decision has been given to the Minister for Public Enterprises and State Investments, William Duma, to bring to the National Executive Council (NEC) to formalise the Board's decision,” Ogil said in a statement.

“The Board's decision to terminate Mangos' employment contract with PPL was relayed to him. He subsequently agreed and formally tendered his resignation on 11th May, 2016.”

The minister responsible for State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) was responding to Questions without Notice from Southern Highlands Governor William Powi during Parliament question time this morning.

 Powi asked the minister to give an update on the disagreement by the PPL workers and it's union. "There is no industrial dispute arising from terms and condition of our employees of the company," Duma said.

 "There is no agenda of this government to sell this company to foreigners, reduce terms and conditions of employees or retrenchment."

The suspension follows the release to the Board of PNG Power of an investigative report into serious allegations of gross misconduct during Tangit’s term in office between 2009 and 2015.

The allegations are related to the Angoram Electrification Project and other transactions within PNG Power.

Ogil described the allegations as “serious and the evidence compelling” and follow a “detailed investigatory and forensic report prepared and presented to the PPL Board by an independent and reputable professional service with significant expertise in these matters.”

PNG Power Ltd (PPL) the owner of the dam in a statement advised the public in Port Moresby and parts of Central Province to be serious with electricity and water saving methods.

This due to the decreasing water levels at the Sirinumu Dam reservoir.

“As of Monday February 29, the volume of water at the dam is 99.16 Million Cubic Metres (Mm3), which is 29.14% below full spill level.

The Sirinumu Dam was designed to hold 340 Mm3 of water.

The dam water level has dropped by 1.04 Mm3 in the space of 7 days.

“The Ramu Hydro power station was shut down last weekend as advertised so hydro unit No.2 could be isolated for refurbishment work, and was restored on Sunday,” a PPL statement read.

The supply to Lae residents was maintained by the thermal generators at East Taraka and gas turbine at Lae Wharf.

“However, over the weekend the gas turbine continued to experience technical issues with its fuel filtering system and was shut down on Monday for maintenance.

“The gas turbine was restored on Tuesday February 09 and power supply was back to normal ever since.”

The trainees are currently attending their first induction courses at the PPL Training College and learning about the company’s operation and policies.

The graduate development program will run for two years, and the 23 university graduates who are in this program will stream into Electrical Engineering-Communications, Electrical Engineering-Power, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Lands & Surveying, Information Technology, Accounting, Economics and Human Resource Management.

PNG Power Ltd have managed gain access to site of the fault and have removed tree branches which fell on the transmission line at Musamave, just near Goroka town.

All towns in the Highlands Region have now gained normal power supply. It was earlier reported that the landowner issues in the Highlands region have restricted PNG Power personnel to attend to faulty power problems.

This has resulted in some parts of the Highlands provinces still without power since Saturday afternoon (Jan 30).

The National Court’s ruling this morning went in favour of Mangos to preserve the status quo until the substantive issues in the proceedings are fully heard and determined by the court.  

The substantive issue which will be dealt with by the court on a later date is whether the PPL Board had the power to terminate Mangos’ employment.

Acting Judge Danajo Koeget in his ruling said whether PPL had the power to terminate Mangos’ employment is a serious issue to be tried in the proceeding.

This has resulted in some parts of the Highlands provinces still without power since Saturday afternoon  (Jan 30).

PNG Power told Loop PNG this morning that their technicians are still working around the clock to solve the problem.

This was due to a tree branch falling onto the Ramu/Goroka main 66 kV line during heavy rains.

The incident occurred between the towers 170 and 171 at Masumave, near Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province.