Somare ‘house’ needs repairs

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday 09th Febuary 2012

By JEFFREY ELAPA
GOVERNMENT departments that occupy the Somare Foundation building at Waigani say the building needs urgent repairs.
The building, owned and managed by Damai Ltd, is occupied by the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Environment and Conservation, Office of Bougainville Affairs, Office of Natural Disaster, Office of Communication, and Office of the Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs.
The tenants told The National that the ceilings were starting to collapse.
Yesterday, the ceiling of the Office of the director-general corporate services with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade collapsed.
The public servants who were there at the time said it had already happened twice on the floor.
They said the same problem was being experienced on other floors.
The officers claimed the air conditioning in the building was not working which made it an unpleasant environment to work in.
They claimed the building experienced power supply problems for some time.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which moved there in 1999, said maintenance was a problem and it was risky for staff to occupy such a building.
An officer from the building management said the collapsed ceiling was the result of strong winds as the windows had been left open.
He said tenants had been very slow in paying their rental and owed outstanding monies which they needed to pay so the company could repair the problems they faced.
Several attempts to contact building manager Philo Labeli were unsuccessful although phone messages were left with her office secretary.