KPHL to provide energy for SEZ concept

By PETER ESILA
THE Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd (KPHL) will help provide energy solutions to the Government’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ) concept, managing director Wapu Sonk says.
KPHL and Ministry and Department of International Trade and Investment signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Port Moresby on Thursday.
“KPHL is happy to provide power generation solutions for applications in SEZ’s being planned in the country,” he said.
Maru said securing reliable and affordable energy for the SEZs was a critical foundational input to their commencement and development.
“The vision of the Government is clear, we want to replace all food imports, we want to process everything that we currently produce into final products, and we want to grow our exports, but we cannot do that without cheap, reliable and clean energy,” he said.
“Without innovative solutions to our electricity to bring costs down and make power more reliable, we will never succeed as a country to develop because we are living in a global community where we need to compete with the rest of the world. “It is our job as the Government to make sure that the country has cheap and reliable and clean energy.
“The time has come for us to stop pretending that everything is well, accept the responsibility and look at organisations like KPHL who have the mandate to provide energy so we can attract investors.
“We can dream about all the big projects, but they will only be dreams unless we find real solutions to electricity and all the other factors that attract investments and investor confidence in our country.
“There are other inputs like the freight cost but for now electricity is one of the biggest hindrances to growth and to our ability to compete with the rest of the world.”