Dirio starts supplying power to Port Moresby

By MIRIAM ZARRIGA
AFTER a four-year wait, the Dirio Gas and Power Company switched on its power supply to Port Moresby at 11.35am on Saturday.
It is owned by the PNG LNG project landowners in Hela, Southern Highlands, Gulf, Western and Central.
Chairman Isaac Lupari said the landowner companies spent close to K450 million in the project.
“They made the decision to invest in the future, for their families. We are ready to deliver any new project.”
Hela Governor Philip Undialu welcomed critics of the project “to steer us in the right direction”.
“Thank you for all the negative and positive criticisms because today we are here to switch on the supply and this is to tell other landowners: Yes, we can do it.
“We will supply nine megawatts for now through Kanudi into Port Moresby – a K350 million gas powered power plant at Caution Bay.”
The plant will eventually generate 45 megawatts of power that will be supplied to the city’s power grid at 37 toea per kilowatt.
It will then be distribute by PNG Power Ltd as per the power purchase agreement between the two companies.
The landowner company is expected to supply Port Moresby with power using natural gas,
Thirty per cent of any benefits from oil and gas is set aside for community impact projects, 30 per cent is for investment, and 40 percent is paid to landowners as direct cash benefits.