Angoram power project to be completed: Developer

National

By MALUM NALU
THE controversial K15 million Angoram Rural Electrification Project in East Sepik is expected to be completed in March, according to  project developer PNG Engineering and Power Services.
The project is a 90km high-voltage distribution line from Wewak to Angoram to enhance the Sepik grid.
PNG Power Ltd managing director John Tangit was suspended by then executive director John Mangos on July 31, last year, over a question raised in Parliament two days earlier by Angoram MP Salio Waipo about rural electrification in East Sepik.
An investigation was commissioned into the project but no report was made public on the findings.
Tangit has since been sacked while Mangos left in controversial circumstances.
A spokesman for the developer, who asked not to be named, said yesterday the delay was because of several problems.
This included sourcing material from overseas, political interference, compensation claims from nearby villages and poor road infrastructure between Wewak and Angoram.
He said the first 30km starting from Angoram had already been completed while the remaining 60km would be completed by  March given that there were no bushes or villages. “I am optimistic by around February 2017, we should be nearly completed and by March we will deliver the project,” the spokesman said.
“I’d like to tell stakeholders, the Government and everybody else that this project has never failed.
“We are on the ground.
“If people want to talk about the project, they have to come to Angoram and know what is going on.
“We are committed to the project and we have the expertise, skills and materials.
“There is nothing to worry about.
“All in all, I’m very, very happy to say that all the materials required are already in Wewak even though it has taken us a bit of time.
“We want to assure the people that we will deliver the project – it will not fail.”
The project is the East Sepik provincial government’s and not PNG Power Ltd, the spokesman said.