O’Neill confirms probe on BDA

THE Border Development Authority will be investigated, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said.
And all small vessels bought under its programme will be reclaimed by the government from their current private owners and put into servicing maritime provinces with a new K7 million passenger ferry being built in New Zealand.
O’Neill yesterday talked to the survivors and families at St Paul’s Primary School in Lae.
He said the authority was not serving the people of Papua New Guinea as intended. It had resulted in prevalent mismanagement and corrupt practices.
He gave as an example a K750,000 vessel being bought for K6 million using BDA funds. Most of the vessels are now in the hands of private operators.
He said people in the maritime industry were dictating and compromising the safety of PNG people.
The government has therefore appointed Dr Thomas Webster as the new NMSA chairman.
Dr Webster replaces Hamish Sharp, the brother of Peter Sharp who owns Star Shipping and the ill-fated mv Rabaul Queen.
O’Neill said the smaller vessels will complement the new bigger ferry currently under construction in New Zealand to serve the maritime provinces.