Local companies not being given a chance by the govt

Letters

WE have seen the Government of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill going on a spending spree, borrowing and spending billions of kina on substandard infrastructure development, especially in Port Moresby over a space of five years.
The massive government spending have created a lot of construction businesses and job opportunities for the locals.
However, the O’Neill Government has its own plans whom they want to do business with to share the benefits from the massive spending.
Instead of awarding lucrative contracts to our local companies and jobs to our own citizens; they brought in foreigners all the way from overseas (thousands of miles across the oceans) to give them construction businesses and jobs our people desperately need.
If you now drive around at construction sites in Port Moresby, you will see foreigners everywhere doing work our people supposed to be doing.
So much for a government that claims to have done so much over the past five years but what is at stake are the interests of Papua New Guineans and about the protection of jobs and businesses.
If our people lack capacity to be awarded multimillion dollar contracts, then build their capacities.
If our people lack certain skills to do these jobs, then build their skills. We must be in charge with our own destiny.
If the Government cannot build the capacity of our citizens to take over businesses and jobs then who else out there will do it?
We can’t afford to lose businesses and jobs that we desperately need ourselves to foreigners.
Look at the unemployment rate in the country. It’s still one of the highest in the world.
How can the government protect the jobs we desperately need when we are allowing foreigners to take over jobs?
PNG’s economy seems to be controlled by foreigners.
The Government should look at ways to empower the people to take control over the economy by building their capacities.

Lucas Kiap, Via email