Guys there is prevalent corrupt practises in this dept and yet gov't is allocating more and borrowing more for infrastructure without addressing such corrupt practises. The practises in Simbu was obvious but the Dept did nothing as they are involved.

K50m highway rehab money ‘squandered’

SOME K50 million meant to rehabilitate the Highlands Highway have been “squandered” on compensation in Simbu alone, acting Works Secretary Joel Luma said.
He said this meant that there was no money left to acquire land in the other four provinces.
He added that even though land acquisition from Lae in Morobe to Mendi in Southern Highlands stretched for about 600km, only K28 million was spent on compensation.
In Simbu, the compensation paid out was almost double that, he said.
Mr Luma made the revelation in a letter he sent to the Public Services Commission two weeks ago to seek for the suspension of two senior department officials.
He accused both men of professional negligence and misconduct.
The K244 million Highlands Highway rehabilitation programme was jointly funded by the World Bank and the PNG Government.
Mr Luma wrote in his letter dated Sept 17: “Upon assuming duties and responsibilities of the Secretary for Works in an acting capacity, I have uncovered very serious and fundamental breaches of loyalty and trust entrusted upon very senior public servants in the conduct of their mandated duties.”
Citing the two officers, Mr Luma said he held them responsible for the “massive over-expenditure” incurred by the project in Simbu over the past two years.
He said one official was implicated in a number of other serious offences and was “not fit to occupy any senior position in the executive management”.
One case concerned a payment of more than K1 million which the official had authorised.
“As I am not yet able to gauge the extent to which this systematic and endemic corrupt practice exists, I request your office and that of other concerned agencies to assist my department in conducting a full and comprehensive investigation,” Mr Luma said.
In response to a show-cause letter from Mr Luma, Gariga Gabi, one of the officials cited, said he believed the valuers engaged on the programme “did not do their job properly with honesty and integrity”.
“They were sidetracked by offers of women, beer, pigs and monetary benefits by landowners themselves, which led to some improper evaluation done on properties outside of the road corridor, while some properties valued were non-existent,” he said.
Mr Gabi also said other people engaged on the project did not perform to expectations, leading to the over-expenditure.
He said a lot of fraudulent claims and payments were made which had been referred to police and the Ombudsman Commission for investigation and prosecution.
The other official had yet to respond to his show-cause letter.
“I fully understand the concerns you have. Instead of money being spent on the civil works for the benefit of the stakeholders and the country, all the money had been spent on greedy individuals living along the highway,” he said.

There is actually alot of it, involving politicians. Only Joel Luma can investigate and expose these corrupt practices.

Joel Luma himself has claimed K600 000 last time. He is defrauding the state big time.


CORRUPTION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can assure you that he won't be going to jail and he knows it.