Zurenuoc blamed for city woes

By PISAI GUMAR
The heads of two divisions in the Lae City Council (LCC) say many of the problems faced are the fault of city manager Murewe Zurenuoc.
The heads of the legal, health and community and the engineering technical services said Zurenuoc was city manager and head of the engineering and technical services.
They said no formal meetings had been held among divisional heads to ensure municipal services were properly carried out.
The council legal servi­-ces division questioned why Zurenuoc was the acting city manager while heading the engineering and technical services division which did not comply with public service general orders.
Most contractors, who turned up at the Lae police station on Monday and Tuesday to collect their overdue payments for work done since 2008, said although work had been done, the city authorities had failed to make payments on time.
The legal, health and community and engineering technical services said private contractors that fronted up at LCC office were assigned in 2008 for garbage collection, grass cutting and cleaning drain.
They said those contractors were not paid until this year, while contractors engaged for major road maintenance were still waiting for payment.
The heads said questioned why private contractors were needed when the city council had a workforce and equipment to do the job.
 “We are employed and are on payroll to do the job. Why is LCC management engaging private contractors and wasting money?
“If that was so, the management should task the six LLGs within Lae to engage youths, women, NGOs and church groups,” the supervisors said.