Lae wharf re-opens after IPBC intervenes

 By GABRIEL LAHOC

LAE port has been re-opened for business after the intervention of the Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC).

The port was closed on Tuesday by landowners and stakeholders in the stevedoring industry who claimed that their list of grievances given to the government had not been looked into.

IPBC managing director Wasantha Kumarasiri flew to Lae on Tuesday to assure the landowners that their demands would be looked into.

Kumarasiri assured them that IPBC would take over the Lae port modernisation programme from PNG Ports Corporation Ltd.

The striking parties have given 14 days for the government to address the matter.

He told them that their demand for the termination PNG Ports Corporation chief executive officer Stanley Alphonse and board chairman Nathaniel Poiya would be considered.

Kumarasiri met the landowners on Tuesday and again yesterday morning and relayed Minister for Public Enterprise and State Investment Ben Micah’s guarantee to immediately suspend the expression of interest and terms of contract allowing Patrick Stevedores to become the fourth stevedoring company to operate at the port.

He said an investigation would be conducted into the manner in which Patrick Stevedores, an Australian company, was being invited to do business at the biggest and busiest port in the country.