Agiru told to return to Mendi

SOUTHERN Highlands Governor, Anderson Agiru, has been urged to return to Mendi to see the status of developments taking place in the provincial capital.
Owner of local construction company Suame Building Contractors, Noah Kondop, said this in support of provincial chamber of commerce president Berry Mini.
Mini had raised concerns last week that several developmental works being carried out in the province were slow, while there was also a low cash flow in the province.
Kondop claimed Agiru had individually selected the companies involved in the construction of a for majority of the projects since 2008.
He also called on Agiru to inform the people of SHP why a particular company, which had no local shareholders, had been awarded major contracts worth millions of kina without calling for public tenders.
He said the call by Mini was a fact as small local contractors were overlooked for big players, who would spend only a fraction of the money they got in the province.
He said if local companies were awarded contracts, there would be a considerate amount of cash flow in the province instead of being invested in Port Moresby, Lae, and Mt Hagen, where the company accounts are located.
Kondop said Agiru should not cover up for the sake of contractors who had been slow in completing projects such as the Ialibu Secondary School buildings, Mendi police barracks, Poroma police base, as well as the Kerowagi riot squad police barracks at Ganigle, Chimbu, and other works in Hela region.
He urged Agiru to visit the province and see for himself the updated status of the projects his government had initiated.
Kondop also called on the Ombudsman Commission to conduct an investigation into why a certain company had been awarded a number of impact projects and whether the tender processes were followed.