By HAIVETA KIVIA
MOROBE provincial administrator Manazupe Zurenuoc has stopped mobile company Digicel from erecting its billboards at the venues of the 3rd PNG Games because of a conflict.
This is because the K50,000 sponsorship deal signed between Digicel and PNG Sports Foundation supposedly for the PNG Games did not result in some of the money going into the games coffers.
The 3rd PNG Games Host Organising Committee events manager Napoleon Kaemala said yesterday that Zurenuoc had directed one of his deputies Patilias Gamato, who is the chairman of Urban Land and Tenders Board, to notify Digicel of the stop work order.
Digicel had erected two huge billboards at the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium, one at the indoor complex and the other at the outdoor stadium without any signage.
Kaemala said Digicel had come in and said that they were the official sponsor and this had also angered the official sponsor Coca-Cola Amatil and its partner sponsor Super Value Stores (SVS).
The deal between PNG Games signed by the executive director of PNG Sports Foundation John Kambuou was for Digicel to hand out handsets and K100 worth of Flexcards to the officials of the Games for communication.
Kaemala said the deal was to do with PNG Sports Foundation
programmes, and not
the Games.
He also confirmed that the 3rd PNG Games HOC was dealing with Telikom to be it official telecommunication company for the duration of the Games.
“We are signing the deal with Telikom tomorrow (today),” he said.
The stoppage also comes at the time when PNG Sports Foundation is also demanding payment for the use of Sir Ignatius Kilagi Stadium for the Games.
All these events and deals have not gone down well with the HOC and Morobe Administration.