Seems things at DPE have not changed much. They have no electricity. Employees say no one is working or very little. Rimua says that DPM is the one who authorizes things and they were never approved for their current location so he says they won't pay for electric use. That makes sense. Then someone says they share the office space with another agency and the other agency takes three quarters of the space so the fair split of electricity is 60-40. Huh? Then we have employees saying that no one works and nothing gets done because the department is corrupt. Now that DOES make sense. So what's the solution? Don't ask them:

"No electricity at DPE Gordons office

By ANCILLA WRAKUALE

THE Department of Petroleum and Energy office at the Gordon Industrial Area in Port Moresby has been without electricity for six months now.
A anonymous senior staff from DPE said their office couldn’t afford to pay the K30,000 electricity bill to PNG Power Limited hence the electricity disconnection.
He said right now they are depending on the National Intelligence Organisation from the Prime Minister’s Department who share the same building with them to operate. He said since NIO has three quarters of the office space, they have agreed that NIO will pay 60 per cent of the electricity bill while DPE pays the remaining 40 percent.
He said NIO has paid their K33,000 electricity bill while DPE has yet to pay up its K30,000.
The building they are leasing is owned by the L&A Group of Companies and DPE has about twenty staff members operating from there.
Another staff from DPE also told Post- Courier that all this issues stem from serious internal politics of the department.
He said there is a big chaos in the house and things need to be sorted out.
He alleged that there are a lot of corrupt practises going on at DPE and for the matter to be sorted out, they would need a new management.
He said most times they do nothing at the office.
He said they just come in sit around and go home in the afternoon or sometimes they don’t come to work in a week but they still get full pay.
Meanwhile, Acting Secretary for the Department of Petroleum and Energy Mr Rendal Rimua when contacted yesterday, told Postcourier that he will not pay for anything for that office.
“We never got the approval from the Office Allocation Committee from Department of Personal Management to move in there at the first place so I will not pay for any bills.
“I am not reliable for anything there”, he said
He said the Office Allocation Committee from DPM is responsible to give approvals for government departments to move into offices but they never gave any approval for the DPE’s office at Gordons.
He said they are now located at the Heduru Haus at Waigani."

http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20120816/news17.htm

'ValueSleuth' pid='8338' datel Wrote:Just out of curiosity, does anybody know anything about the L & A Group? Might be interesting to find out who is behind the space rental and what corruption is involved, if any. Maybe Rimua is an upstanding citizen, fighting the good fight against the forces of evil. LOL VS

One Google click found this: http://www.laconstruction.com.pg/

But the link is a 404 after the intro. Easy for someone local to check it out.

L&A Group of Companies is a long-time constuction company in PNG: "L&A to open new office By MOHAMMAD BASHIR Prime Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare will officially open a landmark building complex next Monday which is expected to prop up the image of 6 Mile suburb. A special guest expected to attend the opening will be the inventor of Industrial Light Beams (ILB) Ian Barryman form ILB Manufacturers, Australia. ILB is metal beams that can reach over 100 metres without the support of braces or poles and are ideal for foot bridges, building frames and bridges. It can be built in the factory and assembled on site as L&A is currently doing in Cloudy Bay on a K2.5 million project. Built on the fringes of 6 Mile along Morea Tobo road as you approach the Gateway hotel at 7 Mile, the K15 million kina building complex will house the headquarters of the L&A Group of companies. L&A group of companies includes L&A Building and Construction Ltd, Tile Merchants Ltd, ILB Steel Buildings and Fabricators Ltd and Sports Inn. A humble family bricklaying company established in 1972, the former L&A Bricklayers Pty Ltd has gone from strength to strength to become one of the leading construction, tile merchant, bricklaying and ILB companies in PNG. It has been described as one of the most modern tile and furniture showroom and office complexes in the country by industry experts, chairman Luciano Cragnolini could not be happier. Many long serving and loyal staff of the company spoken to yesterday said they enjoyed their work which was always challenging but had bosses who were hands on and encouraged multi-skilling." http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20100203/business01.htm The owner is Luciano Cragnolini who was recently knighted by O'Neill and is one of the guys Namah called a "drinking buddy" of O'Neill's: "Mr Namah said the awarding of the knighthood to business leaders Theophilus George Constantinou and Luciano Cragnolini is nothing but cheap gifts for being Prime Minister Peter O'Neill's drinking buddies. However, Mr O'Neill last night hit back at Mr Namah, saying the awards were given by the Honours Awards Committee and he had nothing to do with it. " http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20120713/news04.htm

'Palm' pid='8384' datel Wrote:

L&A Group of Companies is a long-time constuction company in PNG: "L&A to open new office By MOHAMMAD BASHIR Prime Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare will officially open a landmark building complex next Monday which is expected to prop up the image of 6 Mile suburb. A special guest expected to attend the opening will be the inventor of Industrial Light Beams (ILB) Ian Barryman form ILB Manufacturers, Australia. ILB is metal beams that can reach over 100 metres without the support of braces or poles and are ideal for foot bridges, building frames and bridges. It can be built in the factory and assembled on site as L&A is currently doing in Cloudy Bay on a K2.5 million project. Built on the fringes of 6 Mile along Morea Tobo road as you approach the Gateway hotel at 7 Mile, the K15 million kina building complex will house the headquarters of the L&A Group of companies. L&A group of companies includes L&A Building and Construction Ltd, Tile Merchants Ltd, ILB Steel Buildings and Fabricators Ltd and Sports Inn. A humble family bricklaying company established in 1972, the former L&A Bricklayers Pty Ltd has gone from strength to strength to become one of the leading construction, tile merchant, bricklaying and ILB companies in PNG. It has been described as one of the most modern tile and furniture showroom and office complexes in the country by industry experts, chairman Luciano Cragnolini could not be happier. Many long serving and loyal staff of the company spoken to yesterday said they enjoyed their work which was always challenging but had bosses who were hands on and encouraged multi-skilling." http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20100203/business01.htm The owner is Luciano Cragnolini who was recently knighted by O'Neill and is one of the guys Namah called a "drinking buddy" of O'Neill's: "Mr Namah said the awarding of the knighthood to business leaders Theophilus George Constantinou and Luciano Cragnolini is nothing but cheap gifts for being Prime Minister Peter O'Neill's drinking buddies. However, Mr O'Neill last night hit back at Mr Namah, saying the awards were given by the Honours Awards Committee and he had nothing to do with it. " http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20120713/news04.htm

Thanks.

Interesting, and amusing.

Lucky Luciano.

VS