Monday 21^st January, 2019 – Port Moresby: Minister for Public Enterprises and State Investments, William Duma, has challenged State owned enterprises (SOEs) to improve performance and service delivery by addressing the corporate culture in each of the businesses.

“The last 12 months have been challenging. If we are to deliver competent, reliable and affordable services and an acceptable return on investment then we must change the existing corporate culture in which we operate in; invest in our people; re-engineer customer engagements and reduce costs,” Minister Duma said.

The Minister emphasised the need to change from the way SOEs have been operating over the last 20 years and introduce innovative strategies that will improve performance and service delivery.

“We have 9 SOEs employing over 7, 000 employees with assets valued at over K9 billion. To receive a total revenue of only K3 billion this year from these assets which equates to 4.8% of PNG’s GDP is simply not good enough. There is great room for improvement.

“We must work harder and smarter. Last year we declared a war on waste and inefficiency. We must continue this program of waste reduction and improve business efficiency,” Minister Duma said.

The Minster was speaking at a meeting attended by SOE Heads and Board members at the Crown Hotel in Port Moresby today – organised by Kumul Consolidated Holdings (KCH) to kick-off the 2019 operational year.

The Minister was clear in that change is not an option but the only choice.