Contract termination by Eda Ranu wrong

Letters, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday 04th April, 2013

RECENTLY, Eda Ranu terminated a build, operate and transfer (BOT) contract with a Malaysian firm.
The reason given and quoted in the newspaper was “it was a stupid contract”.
The bottom line is because Eda Ranu gets only 30% of the mo­ney the company makes in provi­ding water to the city residents.
My question to the Eda Ranu board is; what is the cost we pay
for the termination of the contract and why do we call it a “stupid
contract” when those who initially came up with it were our very
own professional Papua New Gui­neans?
The BOT contract will expire in six years’ time, so we only have to wait and everyone will be happy.
By terminating the agreement, future and current developers will start thinking seriously about their investments in PNG and how we do business here.
In addition, PNG earns only
20% from the LNG project compared to 30% Eda Ranu earns
from the BOT deal.
If that is correct, isn’t the Eda Ranu deal a better one than what
we are getting from the LNG pro-ject?
Why can’t we wait another six years and strike a deal where the BOT is reversed, meaning we get 70% while the Malaysian firm gets 30% and it continues to manage, train and supply technical expa­triates?
Mind you, Eda Ranu still has a lot of work to do.
We still need to provide basic, cheap, clean water to all residential areas and suburbs in the city and surroun­ding villages as well as to link it up with the proposed Central City, if it does materialise.
The Port Moresby water and se­werage system also needs to be upgraded as the city is expanding and more people are coming in.
In residential areas, building owners are putting up additional units or flats, and therefore, in-
crea­sing the water and sewerage output.
Technical expertise, machinery and finance are needed to make these happen.
People such as Mary Karo, David Ericko and the rest of the Eda Ranu board members need to plan this
sort of development for our city.
The mentality that Papua New Guineans can manage and run our country should be put aside for
more important issues such as how can we utilise the expertise we have access to in order to provide efficient, effective and cheap services to our people who mostly do not have access to services such as water, power or telephone.
If the government continues to allow the Eda Ranu board to get its way, I will not be surprised if Eda Ranu becomes another PNG Power or Telikom.
Over to you, Ben Micah.

Hamanga
Port Moresby