The board of Morobe’s Provincial business arm for the first time responded to the issues surrounding a tussle between Helicopter Company, Manolos Aviation and the business arm.
This follows a board meeting held in Lae last week involving land disputes and the board’s confidence in Elizabeth Bradshaw as the CEO of the business arm.
The board met for ten hours to talk about issues concerning the operation of the business arm.
This meeting comes a week after this access gate was welded shut.
One of the points included the dispute with a Provincial government tenant, Manolos aviation, occupying the land here at Lae’s old airport.
The gate is the only access that Manolos use during a medevac and for fuel trucks to access to restock fuels.
According to Bradshaw, the gate was welded shut following a court order.
The legal council refused to confirm the existence of a court order.
According to MPG’s legal Council, Ralph Saulep, the Land is owned by the Provincial Government and has over the years, authorized Morobe Sustainable Investments Limited (MSIL) to manage the land.
He said the matter is before the court and called on the people to respect the court process.
Saulep claims that Manolos Aviation signed a 4-year lease with MSIL in 2013 that expired in 2017. He said despite requests, Manolos refused to sign a new Lease.
“I understand from instructions we’ve been given, that an amount of three million Kina, perhaps more, perhaps a bit less, I’m not sure, but that’s the kind of figure I think it’s owed by Manolos.”
However, Manolos Aviation Limited CEO, Jurgen Ruh said, the last rental paid was on the 13th of November 2019.
“There was an apparent issue on who was the right recipient and that’s the time I stopped paying rentals because she (Elizabeth Lolo Bradshaw) claimed she must get paid rentals and Provincial Government said, no, you must pay us.”
The Morobe Provincial Government has three companies operating as their business arms.
The companies are Kumgie, Morobe Resource Holdings Limited and Morobe Sustainable Investment Limited. They currently own four properties including this building.
The chairman of the Business arm is the Provincial Administrator, Bart Impambonj and Elizabeth Bradshaw the CEO.
