Kumul Consolidated Holdings is making generous contributions to the nation’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic, the Minister for State Enterprises, Mr Sasindran Muthuvel, said today.

“The peak State-Owned Enterprise is donating K1 million worth of petrol to police, paid direct to Puma,” he said. “It has also supplied 12 vehicles for police operations in NCD/Central.

“KCH, as the shareholder in SOEs, is also looking at other ways to help defeat coronavirus. We are proud to partner the Government in this fight.”

Mr Muthuvel said the assistance was in response to requests from the State of Emergency Controller, Police Commissioner David Manning. Other SOEs are also helping, he said.

Ports PNG and Water PNG have donated additional Personal Protection Equipment for health staff around the country, and Post PNG is helping transport medical supplies from the Badili stores to the airport, to be flown by Air Niugini to the provinces.

Telikom and DataCo have connected the National Operations Command centre at Morauta Haus to the internet at no cost, and are providing free internet to UPNG and Divine Word University to enable classes to continue. Telikom is also hooking up the Rita Flynn centre to the internet, as requested by the Minister for Health.

On advice from Commissioner Manning, Air Niugini’s 767 is on standby to fly to any international location to obtain medical supplies, such as test kits and Personal Protection Equipment. Air Niugini is also providing trained call centre staff to the Department of Health call centre.

All SOEs are involved in awareness campaigns at the provincial level.

“These are very substantial contributions to protecting Papua New Guineans from this deadly virus,” Mr Muthuvel said. “They are separate from our commitment, through the implementation of our coronavirus contingency plans, to maintaining the delivery of essential services throughout this crisis.

“State-Owned Enterprises play a critical role in national life, and I am pleased to be able to extend our efforts for the duration of the emergency.

“This is potentially a crisis on a scale Papua New Guinea has never experienced – we only have to look at what is happening in wealthy and powerful nations such as the US, Spain and Italy to understand that.

“These are times in which we must ALL do what we can for each other and for the nation.”