Hagen authority owed K400,000

By ELIAS LARI
COMPANIES in Mt Hagen city of Western Highlands owes  more than K400,000 in taxes to the city authority, city manager Victor Megao said.
That includes taxes for sanitation, garbage collection, outstanding licence
and trading licence for this year.
His office had sent several letters and notices to the companies that had not paid bills but had not received a response from them.
He said the substantial amount of tax arrears affected the city authority’s ability to deliver services and
urged the companies to
pay up and start fresh next year.
Megao said if it had to the
city authority would take companies to court to claim what they owed in outstanding taxes.
He said the national go­vernment grant given to his office was not much because the city population was more than 200,000.
The city authority was trying its best to maintain the good image of the city but with an increasing population there it was very
hard to work when they did not have money and resources.