Institute’s status queried

AN agriculture and technology education centre established in 2014 has been closed for the last four years but staff continue to be paid, parliament heard yesterday.
Northern Governor Gary Juffa revealed that Eastern Papua Institute of Agriculture and Technology (EPIAT) was closed despite the National Executive Council decision to establish it six years ago.
“Staff are still being paid for the last four years, there are no enrolments and there is no activity,” Juffa said.
He said he was only being informed of fly-in-fly-out consultants that were engaged in basic maintenance of some of the structures there.
“The institution (EPIAT) has about four oil palm farms, but we do not know where all those revenues are going to.”
“Is there any effort made to revive this institution?” Juffa asked Department of Higher Education Research Science and Technology Minister Nick Kuman.
Kuman said the institute could not continue because of insufficient funding.
“Some work has been done to rehabilitate the institution but unfortunately we had to stop because the level of funding was low,” he said.
EPIAT, formerly known as the University of Natural Resources and Environment, Oro Campus, was one of six new higher education institutions that NEC had decided to establish in 2014.
Kuman said there were some appropriations in 2019 for the rehabilitation of higher education institutions.
He said the money had not been warranted.
“This year we have some level of funding coming through and I will make sure that some of those monies are used to continue rehabilitating EPIAT facilities in Oro,” Kuman said.