By JAMES APA GUMUNO and CEDRIC LAGA
THE Mt Hagen City Council has seized a generator and five computers from Telikom PNG Ltd’s office in Mt Hagen for non-payment of K11,000 in trading licence fees.
City manager Richard Culligan said that the amount had accumulated over the years, prompting the council to obtain a court order.
He said if Telikom PNG Ltd failed to settle the amount within the next three months, the items would be auctioned to recover what was owed.
Mr Culligan added that the amount did not include what was due this year.
He said that the council had served several notices to business houses to settle their trading fees but some just refused to respond.
“Some companies are big multi-million kina businesses, so I do not know why they are reluctant to pay the fees,” he told The National yesterday.
“They want to operate for free,”
“We are starting to take some companies to court and will do the same with others.
“The council depends heavily on trading licence fees and land rates to provide services in the city, including rubbish collection, beautification programmes and street lighting,” he said.
Mr Culligan also said some locally-owned building companies were designing structures that did not meet with requirements.
Some had gone ahead to build without the approval of the building board and physical planning, he said.
Mr Culligan regretted that some members of the board were not performing their duties and had allowed illegal buildings to come up all over the city.
He urged all businesses in the city to pay up their due fees.