Peter O’Neill’s cash strapped government is moving it Conservation and Environment Protection Authority into plush new office accommodation in one of Port Moresby’s premier real estate developments.
The Savannah Heights complex on Waigani Drive is the new home for both CEPA and its sister organisation, the Climate Change Development Authority.
The two organisations will occupy the whole eight floors in one Savannah Heights tower; quite a step up from CEPA’s old accommodation in the B-Mobile building further down Waigani Drive.
The new accommodation costs are clouded in secrecy, but it is believed the government is paying at least K1,200 per square metre per month. With CEPA and CCDA spread over eight luxurious floors that could mean a bill of around K2 million a month or K24 million a year.
Other estimates have put the costs as high as K3.5 million a month or K42 million each year.
CEPA staff are rather bewildered by the move as CEPA relies on generous grants from aid donors like the United Nations and Japanese and Australian governments to maintain many of its functions.
Inside the new CEPA / CCDA building