Foundation settles claims

By ISAAC LIRI
SKILLED workers from Parohu Contractors who built the PNG Football Stadium and the Bava Park for the Under-20 Women’s World Cup will be paid their overtime claims today.
Chief executive officer of the Papua New Guinea Sports Foundation Peter Tsiamalili Jr yesterday said after discussing the matter in a meeting on Wednesday, the State steering committee for the event made funds available for the contractors.
The workers who made a vital contribution to the success of the international tournament gathered at the Sir John Guise Stadium on Wednesday and demanded payment of their claims for overtime.
The steering committee, comprising representatives of the PNG Sports Foundation, Department of National Planning and Monitoring and the Department of Finance met with the contractors and decided to pay them.
“A total of K500,000 is the overtime amount to be given to the skilled workers so they can utilise it the Christmas period,” Tsiamalili Jr said.
The group’s team leader Michael Vines said: “All their wages have been fully-paid already but it is just the overtime claims that need to be sorted out and since its Christmas, we wanted to push for what we think our workers deserve.”
Vines clarified that for the first time a Papua New Guinean firm had been engaged to build world standard stadiums that would become legacies for sports in the future and it would be appropriate to see these workers earn something this festive season.  “I am grateful for Tsiamalili Jr and his team for addressing this. We know that they are not doing things behind the curtain and we commend them for that,” Vines said.
Tsiamalili Jr said there were 39 other services providers to the Fifa Under-20 Women’s World Cup that were yet to be paid.