Lands staff back at work after overdue rent paid

By HELEN TARAWA
THE Lands and Physical Planning office at Waigani in Port Moresby was reopened at 4pm after it was closed for the non-payment of rental arrears, Minister Justin Tkatchenko says.
Tkatckenko, while acknowledging the Finance and Treasury departments for settling the bills, told The National that they had to resolve the Government office rental issue.
“From the information that was provided, Nambawan Super has yet to be paid for the outstanding rentals for the Lands, Finance and many other buildings that they own and operate,” he said.
“Because they haven’t been paid, they are now closing down our departments, closing all the building that we operate out of.
“As the notice from Nambawan Super, they have turned off all the air-conditioning, all the lifts and water.
“They will not service or manage the properties any more for the benefit of our departments.
“This is a critical situation. We are trying to do our reforms but we cannot even operate out of our office.”
Tkatchenko said the recurring situation of being locked out then going back in was “ridiculous”.
“No one can operate like that no matter who you are. We have got a big job to do in the lands department. We cannot be set back all the time by the incompetence of others.”
Lands officers were locked out last December for almost a month.
Tkatchenko urged the Finance Department to pay the bills on time.
“We’ve got work to do and it makes it very difficult. There has to be some sort of schedule put in place so that these bills are paid,” he said.