Public Curator’s Office ‘very old’

By JIMMY KALEBE
THE closure of the Public Curator’s Office in Port Moresby is not only due to outstanding rental payments but also the condition of the building, says PNG Public Curator Jacob Popuna.
Popuna said the building which housed the office was a very old building and was condemned and they should have moved out in 2015 or 2016.
“We were given the option to move to the central government buildings in Waigani or to a building at Ela Beach,” he said in Lae on Friday.
Popuna said they did not move then because most of the clients they had were widows, orphans or mentally-challenged people who went there only because they knew that location.
“Strictness of compliance to security and other issues are causing inconvenience to the public that the office serves every day,” Popuna said
However, Popuna said the office was supposed to be located in an area which was closer to the bus stop, the police station and other offices which would make access to the office more convenient to the public.
“That is why the proposed sites in Central Waigani and Ela Beach were turned down as their locations were inconvenient for accessibility by many small people,” he said.
“We are supposed to be operating like a hospital where accessibility to the services we provide should be open to all, regardless of who you are and your status.”
After highlighting the issues, Popuna said these were mainly the problems that the Office of the Public Curator was facing and it was not entirely due to the rental fees that the office was closed.
He, however, announced that the Government office allocation committee had finally approved relocation.
The new location for the Public Curator’s Office is at Boroko’s Post PNG Building on the second floor and renovation work is now underway.
Popuna said that in the next three weeks, the public could access their services at the new location at 4-Mile, Boroko.