NCDC paying K90,000 monthly for market’s security: Kipit

By REBECCA KUKU
THE National Capital District Commission (NCDC) is paying Pacific Corporate Security (PCS) about K90,000 a month to provide security at the K30 million Gordon’s market that opened on Oct 31, City Hall manager BernardKipit says.
“The market is a huge investment. Go and visit the market and you will understand why we need to protect the investment,” he told The National in response to queries related to a Facebook (FB) posting last week.
The FB post alleged that Kipit had given a contract worth K500,000 a month to a security company to provide security at the market and at the Erima overhead bridge.
Kipit had on Friday denied awarding such a security contract, saying it would be “an act of insanity”.
“We have started (operating the market) and we will review the (security management needs) after the 2020 budget.
“There is no substance in you wanting to know the security contracts for Gordon and other markets in the NCD,” he said.
(The National asks Kipit: If Papua New Guineans and ratepayers don’t have the right to ask NCDC how public money is spent, who has? Who then is NCDC serving and accountable to?)
Kipit stressed that The National’s interest (in market security contracts) had no substance at this time.
“The NCDC is spending only between K90,000 and K100,000 a month for security arrangements at the new market featuring 80 guards working on shifts,” he added.
He said the market security arrangement was assisted by the NCDC internal security officers and police from the nearby station.
NCD Governor Powes Parkop had last month in an interview told The National that steps had been taken to ensure that the market had a high standard of security.
“PCS is a proven security firm that has a full (logistics) back-up, vehicles, manpower, tactic unit and crowd control capacity and they will be providing security for the market.
“We also have a full-time manager and about 20 staff to manage all issues in the market.
“A Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) security camera system is also in place (to help enhance public safety and security).
“And a special police unit will be on standby 24/7 to back up the security firm if there is any need to,” he added.
Parkop said the market was also designed to deliver high-security operations with access to the freeway.