High cost snubbing firms

THE Institute of National Affairs says most of the fish caught in PNG are processed offshore because of the high cost of doing business here.
Institute of National Affairs executive director Paul Barker said only a modest portion was processed in the loining and canning facilities in Lae, Madang and Wewak.
“Most of the catch from the fleets with facilities in PNG are still shipping a major portion of their catch to facilities in Southeast Asia,” Barker said.
“The facilities in Lae, Madang and Wewak are only processing a modest portion in loining and canning plants there.
“The companies argue that costs are high in PNG, and that it’s important to bring the costs of power, canning, vessel support and the like down to be able to compete with processing centres such as in Thailand.”
Barker said it had been observed by regional industry professionals, founding director of Pacific Catalyst Dr Transform Aqorau, that while the local benefits were still a fraction of what they should and could be, some countries and projects had done better than others in building local benefits.
“For example, the Soltai operation based in Noro, the Solomon Islands, has an almost entirely local workforce and all the fleets catch is brought there for processing.
“However, it’s also the nature of agreements.
“If the Solomon Islands can require that the workforce on vessels and factories should be almost entirely local, and that the catch must be landed and processed there, then PNG should also be able to use its powerful position, with its major resource base, to do likewise, and in a short period.”