Talks to resolve power outages

Main Stories, National
Source:

The National, Tuesday November 5th, 2013

 PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill will meet the board and management of PNG Power Ltd to find solutions to the power disruptions in parts of the country.

State Enterprises Minister Ben Micah, PNG Power chief executive officer John Tangit and board members will discuss with O’Neill the issue of continuous overseas travel as the country continues to suffer ongoing blackouts.

Micah, two board members, Tangit and other staff who travelled to Israel, Iceland and to the rugby league World Cup in England returned home last Friday.

O’Neill said he would not be sacking Micah and those who had been away overseas as speculated last week.

“It didn’t come from me, it didn’t come from my office,” O’Neill said of reports that he was going to sack Micah.

“Of course, the minister is doing an excellent job under very difficult circumstances. He’s got a very big ministry.

“He attends a lot of meetings so people may have their own conclusions about what he’s up to.”

Asked about PPL, O’Neill said: “We’ve got blackouts and issues on the ground and it needs people to manage it.

“I’ll talk to them and I’ll get to the bottom of it. The last thing we want to do is to continuously keep on sacking everybody. I’ll talk to the board and management over the coming week.”