Naqia wary of dirty imported used cars

National

IMPORTED second-hand vehicles may pose bio-security risks because of “mud on their chassis or seeds in the radiators”, an official says.
Warea Orapa, the acting general manager (Operation) of the National Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection Authority (Naqia), said these vehicles should be checked properly because they had been used in a foreign country.
“These vehicles are high bio-security risks,” he said.
“Some times we don’t check these vehicles because they end up in logging camps around the country.
“They are brought by logging ships to the remote sea ports where logs are loaded. These are areas that we can’t control.”
Orapa said Naqia needed more staff to properly check imported food products and vehicles.
“We have overworked officers at the Port Moresby international wharf and Jackson International Airport,” he said.
“Big sea ports in Rabaul (East New Britain) Port Moresby, Lae and Madang have an average of five staff.
“In Kimbe (West New Britain), we have three.”
Orapa said PNG had 170 Naqia officers while Fiji, a smaller country, had 300 quarantine officers.