Deputy Chairman of the PNG Games Host Organizing Committee (HOC), Dacca Wagai says Nirvani Civil Construction have been paid 95% already of the total cost which is close to K22 million to have West New Britain Province Games ready.
Wagai said this when responding to questions raised by the media on whether the contractor for the PNG Games has been paid the full amount for their services.
“Nirvani initially gave us a scope of K23 million kina. We have a balance of K1.3 million yet to pay.
“The contractor is now insisting that we pay that balance and then they will return to work.
“This is the tenth day that they have stopped work after we just paid Nirvani K5 million in December of last year.
“They worked for four weeks and decided to suspend work again pending the payment of the balance. So that is where we are.
“In any contract, we know that there is a retention clause, we have already overpaid the retention by another 5%,” said Wagai.
Sports Minister, Justin Tkatchenko added on saying Nirvani must get back to work on the venues.
“At the end of the day, you have to be a team player. We’re not going against the contractor because they haven’t been paid up to date.
“We’ve done everything we possibly can. We have bent over backwards for this contractor to get the job done. Why do you want an upfront payment of a 100%? I’ve never heard of that before.
“Finish the job,” said Tkatchenko.
According to Tkatchenko and Wagai, 90% of the work on all venues has been completed.