Marape fed-up of seeing foreign companies taking local projects

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
Finance Minister James Marape says he is fed up of foreign-owned companies taking away infrastructural projects that local companies can handle.
He will now push for locals to dominate the infrastructural development projects worth up to K50 milion.
Marape said he would propose in next parliamentary session to pass a bill to reserve any infrastructural contract up to K10 million for locals and anything between K10 million and
K50 million for a joint local-foreign ventrure.
“We need to have local contractors heavily involved in the building and road constructions projects that are going on in the country. We cannot just stand and watch foreign-owned companies coming in and doing projects that local contractors can do.” Marape said.
He had made the suggestions last year and reiterated them when opening public accounts for the Central Supply and Tenders Board in Port Moresby.
“I’m looking at defining contracts that are suitable only for local contractors. We are losing by giving so much money away to foreign-owned companies on an open playing field because in an open field is where every company, both local and foreign-owned, bids for contracts that can strictly be disbursed to local companies.
“I have had enough of seeing foreign-owned companies coming in and doing a road project for K5million that a local company can do.”
Marape said that a new submission that is now before the National Executive Council would have only local contractors bid for projects worth K10 million and joint local-foreign contractors to bid for projects from K10 million to K50 million.
Meanwhile, CSTB acting chairman and Finance Secretary Dr Ken Ngangan said that they had awarded a total of K333 milion worth of contracts last year to companies with credibility who were paying taxes to the Government.