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Reported in the PNG Post Courier.
A LARGE amount of air cargo from overseas has been sitting in warehouses near the Jackson’s Airport since last Thursday while Internal Revenue Commission’s customs office sorted out its rental payments. The customs officers working in the building at Six-Mile belonging to the Steamships property division had been locked out for non-payment of rental of K35,400.48.When the Post-Courier visited the office late yesterday afternoon, they found the property owners had gone to remove the chain to the door and to advise the security guards to let the customs officers in when they come to work today.“IRC had finally got its act together,” said the Steamships property staffer when removing the chain from the door. “They have paid the rent this afternoon.”He refused to comment further but confirmed the outstanding rental was for October, November and December.He said the payment was expected to be paid in October but it never eventuated, resulting in the closure of the office. He said this was not the first time IRC had been locked out from this office due to non-payment of rentals.TNT Air Cargo customers manager and president for PNG Customs Brokers Association Nathaniel Baloiloi confirmed this.Mr Baloiloi said in this year alone this would be the third time for the office to be closed and it was affecting not only private companies, but also the Government which relied on the revenue collected from import duties. Other companies into air freight customs clearance include DHL, Hi-Lift company, Port Moresby Transport, Express Freight Management and News Agencies.Mr Baloiloi said before any cargo was delivered to their customers, there was paper work that needed to be done and duty payments to be made but that could not be done since Thursday.Mr Baloiloi said TNT alone received 10 tonnes of cargo a day. The other agencies also received about that amount or more but kept them in their own warehouses while awaiting clearance before they could deliver them.On Sunday, he said, Air Niugini’s jumbo jet brought in 900 tonnes of cargo which had yet to be cleared. “We receive 10 to 15 tonnes of cargo and if this is put together with others, this would be a lot of cargo that is being held up at the airport,” he said.“This is affecting everyone – us, our customers and the Government as the import duties go to the consolidated revenue,” he said.Attempts to get comments from IRC yesterday were unsuccessful, although the IRC officers were aware of this newspaper’s attempts to get comments from the customs officers.
A LARGE amount of air cargo from overseas has been sitting in warehouses near the Jackson’s Airport since last Thursday while Internal Revenue Commission’s customs office sorted out its rental payments. The customs officers working in the building at Six-Mile belonging to the Steamships property division had been locked out for non-payment of rental of K35,400.48.When the Post-Courier visited the office late yesterday afternoon, they found the property owners had gone to remove the chain to the door and to advise the security guards to let the customs officers in when they come to work today.“IRC had finally got its act together,” said the Steamships property staffer when removing the chain from the door. “They have paid the rent this afternoon.”He refused to comment further but confirmed the outstanding rental was for October, November and December.He said the payment was expected to be paid in October but it never eventuated, resulting in the closure of the office. He said this was not the first time IRC had been locked out from this office due to non-payment of rentals.TNT Air Cargo customers manager and president for PNG Customs Brokers Association Nathaniel Baloiloi confirmed this.Mr Baloiloi said in this year alone this would be the third time for the office to be closed and it was affecting not only private companies, but also the Government which relied on the revenue collected from import duties. Other companies into air freight customs clearance include DHL, Hi-Lift company, Port Moresby Transport, Express Freight Management and News Agencies.Mr Baloiloi said before any cargo was delivered to their customers, there was paper work that needed to be done and duty payments to be made but that could not be done since Thursday.Mr Baloiloi said TNT alone received 10 tonnes of cargo a day. The other agencies also received about that amount or more but kept them in their own warehouses while awaiting clearance before they could deliver them.On Sunday, he said, Air Niugini’s jumbo jet brought in 900 tonnes of cargo which had yet to be cleared. “We receive 10 to 15 tonnes of cargo and if this is put together with others, this would be a lot of cargo that is being held up at the airport,” he said.“This is affecting everyone – us, our customers and the Government as the import duties go to the consolidated revenue,” he said.Attempts to get comments from IRC yesterday were unsuccessful, although the IRC officers were aware of this newspaper’s attempts to get comments from the customs officers.
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