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SOME K50 million meant to rehabilitate
the Highlands Highway have been “squandered” on compensation in Simbu
alone, acting Works Secretary Joel Luma said.
He said this meant that there was no money left to acquire land in the
other four provinces.
He added that even though land acquisition from Lae in Morobe to Mendi
in Southern Highlands stretched for about 600km, only K28 million was
spent on compensation.
In Simbu, the compensation paid out was almost double that, he said.
Mr Luma made the revelation in a letter he sent to the Public Services
Commission two weeks ago to seek for the suspension of two senior
department officials.
He accused both men of professional negligence and misconduct.
The K244 million Highlands Highway rehabilitation programme was jointly
funded by the World Bank and the PNG Government.
Mr Luma wrote in his letter dated Sept 17: “Upon assuming duties and
responsibilities of the Secretary for Works in an acting capacity, I
have uncovered very serious and fundamental breaches of loyalty and
trust entrusted upon very senior public servants in the conduct of their
mandated duties.”
Citing the two officers, Mr Luma said he held them responsible for the
“massive over-expenditure” incurred by the project in Simbu over the
past two years.
He said one official was implicated in a number of other serious
offences and was “not fit to occupy any senior position in the executive
management”.
One case concerned a payment of more than K1 million which the official
had authorised.
“As I am not yet able to gauge the extent to which this systematic and
endemic corrupt practice exists, I request your office and that of other
concerned agencies to assist my department in conducting a full and
comprehensive investigation,” Mr Luma said.
In response to a show-cause letter from Mr Luma, Gariga Gabi, one of the
officials cited, said he believed the valuers engaged on the programme
“did not do their job properly with honesty and integrity”.
“They were sidetracked by offers of women, beer, pigs and monetary
benefits by landowners themselves, which led to some improper evaluation
done on properties outside of the road corridor, while some properties
valued were non-existent,” he said.
Mr Gabi also said other people engaged on the project did not perform to
expectations, leading to the over-expenditure.
He said a lot of fraudulent claims and payments were made which had been
referred to police and the Ombudsman Commission for investigation and
prosecution.
The other official had yet to respond to his show-cause letter.
“I fully understand the concerns you have. Instead of money being spent
on the civil works for the benefit of the stakeholders and the country,
all the money had been spent on greedy individuals living along the
highway,” he said.
 
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