WATER TO BE RESTORED IN UNITECH AFTER STATE SETTLES DEBT

Students and staff at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology [PNGUoT] say they have been experiencing water disruptions for the past two weeks, due to the national government’s failure to release funds owed to Water PNG on time.

According to an email by the PNGUoT Pro Vice Chancellor, Kaul Gena to the students and staff at PNGUoT, Water PNG has shut down the water feeding the institution because of outstanding water bills from December 2023, amounting to approximately K8 million.

PNGUoT is a state-owned institution, therefore it is owned and operated by the Government of Papua New Guinea, including the funding support.

The Pro Vice chancellor further disclosed in the email that the PNGUoT Senior Executive Management team has been reaching out to state agencies since last week to resolve the issue of water disruptions but have not received any feedback.

A student at PNGUoT has confirmed to this newsroom, that the institution has been experiencing water outages and low water supply since last week but today, the water has completely shut off.

Meanwhile, an inside source for water PNG, speaking under conditions anonymity told FM100 newsroom that the Department of Treasury has already released the funds owed by the institution, settling their debt and Water PNG is working on restoring the water at PNGUoT this week.

The source is advising the Department of Treasury and to other state institutions in the country to settle their debts to Water PNG, as they will use the money to upgrade and provide essential water services.