Funds going to ‘donor nation’

THE national project manager of the Japanese government-funded solar-powered water desalination plant Tom Anayabare says the funding was a “complete boomerang aid”.
Anayabare was responding to the managing director of Millennium Water Limited Achilles Peni who said interests of local firms who had the expertise and capacity be considered in such projects.
The Japanese Government funded the project for K10 million. The PNG Government contributed K3 million to build the solar-powered water desalination plants on Manus.
Anayabare, the managing director of Northern Electrics who was contracted as the national project manager, said he was bound by the terms of the agreement between the Department of National Planning and Monitoring and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Fiji.
“Funding for this project is from the Government of Japan through the PIFS and as all donor funding, it is a complete boomerang aid,” Anayabare said.
“The conditions of this AID fund include that the consultants, manufacturers, installing and training companies have to be strictly Japanese companies, or companies with 100 per cent ownership by Japanese.
“The agreement was negotiated and signed before I was engaged as the national project manager to implement this project.”
But Peni said the interests of local firms must be considered.