PNGDF urged save money, use resources wisely

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday July 11th, 2013

 THE Papua New Guinea Defence Force can save a lot of money if it is smart enough to use its own resources instead of hiring so many contractors, Defence Secretary John Sini Porti says.

Porti made the comment when opening a self-help project initiated by a small group of soldiers who refurbished an office at the defence headquarters.

“There are many things we can do ourselves but we are looking for outside people to come and do it for us,” Porti said last Friday. 

He said the force needed to work smart so that money could be saved to cater for other things like building married quarters.

The new office space opened last week will be for 

the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Capt Thomas Raivet (Navy).

Raivet described the initiative taken by his unit’s soldiers as the best initiative project ever undertaken.

He said this was the first move taken by his staff to refurbish his office without any labour cost and urged that similar projects be carried out for other offices of the PNGDF instead of hiring outside contractors.

The team led by Chief Warrant Officer John Alois took five weeks to refurbish the office at a cost of K7,000.

The event was witnessed by senior members of PNGDF and the Department of Defence.