Policy change leaves farmers paying half of transport cost

By BRADLEY MARIORI
FARMERS exporting their fresh produce from Lae to Port Moresby through the Government’s transport freight subsidy will now have to pay half the cost. This was announced by Commerce and Industry Minister Sam Basil in Lae yesterday who said the Government would discontinue its 100 per cent subsidy and, instead, only pay half the cost of freight.
Basil said the Government had started the freight subsidy paying for all costs initially, which saw a total of 930 containers (634 dry and 296 cool containers) of produce shipped to the Port Moresby market. The second phase had seen the government and farmers split the cost with the state picking up 75 per cent and the farmers paying for the rest (25 per cent). This saw 1,302 containers (855 dry/ 447 cool) moved. He said with the third round the government would only pay half the costs in a 50-50 split with farmers. Basil said the new subsidy arrangement would exclude goods shipped from Oro Bay (Popondetta) and Alotau (Milne Bay) which would have 75 per cent of their costs carried by the state.
He said this was because both ports were, new the Government wanted to encourage the people of Milne Bay and Northern to participate in the scheme. He said the Government hoped that its subsidy programme helped farmers in reducing the cost of transporting produce to Port Moresby and in turn this would mean cheaper prices benefiting the public. Bismarck Maritime Ltd managing director Hamish Sharp thanked the Government for its trust in the company by continuing the vegetable freight subsidy programme for goods from Lae to Port Moresby and the inclusion of Oro Bay and Alotau. “The subsidy enabled the people of the capital to buy food at affordable prices and enabled the vegetable growers to prosper,” he said. “So far, we’ve carried over 2,500 containers and this is the third part of the subsidy which we are grateful for and we will fulfill our commitment to the Government.”