WHPG paying loans for ‘lost’ vehicles

National, Normal

WESTERN Highlands provincial government is repaying K30,000 monthly for the 11 “lost” vehicles which were bought from a loan in 2006.
The vehicles, mostly Mazda Bravo double-cabs, were bought by Melpa Properties, a business arm of the provincial government, through a bank loan of K1.2 million from Bank South Pacific.
The condition of the loan was that the provincial government would give K30,000 every month to Melpa Properties to repay the loan.
According to Governor Tom Olga at a media conference in Mt Hagen on Monday, these vehicles have been missing since the 2007 National Election but the provincial government is still repaying the loan.
Mr Olga said when he was in office, he had spent more than K100,000 to recover these missing provincial government vehicles but to no avail.
He said that the previous provincial government did not honour an agreement with the Melpa Properties.
Mr Olga said the initial loan was K1.2 million but with interest, they would repay the bank about K1.6 million.