‘Govt can solve power woes by paying bills’

THE Government needs to pay its bills to solve the country’s electricity supply problem, says the Lae chamber of commerce and industry. Chamber president John Byrne told a business conference on Tuesday – about quality infrastructure – that “we all know about the challenges of power”. “The Government does not pay its to the power company and the power company cannot supply power,” he said. “It is hurting. “The support we really need is the Government to be able to pay its bills.” Byrne said PNG Power was planning to review the model of power. “We know our electrification programme and the four partners – Japan, Australia, New Zealand and USA – were meant to be providing an infrastructure network,” he said. “We also know that Ramu 2 is being developed by the Chinese. “So we have a lot of infrastructure being talked about and done. “But our challenge at the moment is not in terms of the supply but the grid and their network. “The fact that if a coconut falls on a power line, the power supply goes off.  “There are provinces that lose power for days. “And when we get blackouts, the cost to business is enormous. “Equipment is burning out, shutting down, you are losing technology. “It’s a real challenge that we need to seriously look at and understand where we are going.”