Call for help

 By MELTON PAIS

THE company that will provide transport for athletes and official at the Pacific Games is seeking help from vehicle owners around the country to bolster its fleet.  

Pindu Transport and Logistics Services Limited, one of two locally-owned companies to gain Games contracts – the other company is Lae Everclean Limited – took out a newspaper advertisement last Friday calling for interested bus owners to offer their vehicles for use during the Games. 

The advertisement called for drivers as well. With scant information on Pindu offered by the company and the Games Organising Committee it is unclear how the company will fulfil its contractual obligation given it has been named the event’s main transport provider.

More than 3000 athletes and officials are expected in Port Moresby for the two-week regional event in July.

Attempts to interview the company and get information on the contract from the Games Organising Committee have been unsuccessful, with officials from the body failing to answer questions save for a brief press release on January 31, the day the agreement was publically announced.

According to that release, Pindu will provide “100 buses and 150 cars to be utilised to transport athletes and officials to and from the Games venues”. 

Games Organising Committee chief executive officer Peter Stewart said further contracts for transport would be announced over the next two months.

Company director Mek Pindu told The National recently that revealing any information relating to his contract could constitute a breach of the terms.

“It is a bond contract and we were instructed not to reveal any information to the media about it,” Pindu said at his Gerehu office on Saturday.

The company’s lot had only two vehicles parked there on that day.

Pindu, from Southern Highlands, said his company was only acting on behalf of the Game’s Organising Committee to provide the said service during the July 4-18 event. 

He directed all queries to the committee.

Despite the reluctance of both parties to reveal information on the contract, the Pacific Games contract coordinator in the Central Supply and Tenders Board office, Agarobe Agaro, said he was unaware of the contract entered into by Pindu and the committee.

Agaru said his office only dealt with Games contracts of a certain value through the normal bidding process. 

He said any contracts that were below the K1 million threshold were handled by the organising committee and most likely by-passed the usual tendering and bidding process. 

“I believe the contract must be less than K1 million so the Pacific Games Organising Committee have awarded the contract without any bidding process,” Agaro said.

He said as far as he was aware the Pindu contract was obviously less than a million kina. 

Investment Promotion Authority records show the company was established in 2010 and has two directors – Mek and Rachel Pindu.

Pindu said his transport and logistics company had fleets in Port Moresby, Lae and Mt Hagen and trucks working at LNG sites in Port Moresby and Komo, in Hela. “My company provides transport and logistics services to LNG sites in Port Moresby in Papa Lea Lea and Komo, in Hela, and we service several corporate entities in Port Moresby, including the University of Papua New Guinea and the Correctional Services,” Pindu said.

Pindu said the company had overseas clients and was a sub-contractor to ExxonMobil.

The Games is expected to cost the state K1.2 billion, with most of that money going to the construction of infrastructure.