Landowner company into joint venture

Source:
By PATRICK TALU
LOCAL landowner company (lanco) Massco PNG Limited (MPNGL), South Korean-based firm, CoDA PNG Ltd, and associates company Seohee Construction Ltd (CPNGL), have entered into a joint venture agreement to participate as major contractors in the PNG LNG project.The MoU was signed by MPNGL executive chairman Jerome Kairi, CPNGL chief executive Joshua Chi and Kim Young-kim of Seohee Ltd in Port Moresby yesterday, witnessed by board of directors of MPNGL and CPNGL representatives.CPNGL and Seohee are amongst the top three planning and design architecture and property development company in the South Korea with branches in the Britain and the United States.MPNGL is the umbrella lanco of the Gobe Field Engineering (GFE), from Gobe main PDL 4 in Southern Highlands province.During the signing of the joint venture agreement between the three companies, Kairi said: “The occasion signifying our desires, hopes and aspirations to meaningfully participate directly in the engineering procurement contractors (EPC) construction and not as subcontractors to EPC.“It also voices out our capacity and capabilities to meet the projects contracts schedule,” Kairi said.He added that the joint venture company was for the purpose of long term sustainability and maximising benefits and capacity building for lancos.Kairi said the joint venture was not duplicating the GFE functions but a commercial venture with GFE’s blessing.“We want to prove that we can be competitive with major contractors.”During an interview with Chi as to what specific project CPNGL was looking at the LNG project, he said: “As a specialist planning design and architecture, we are looking at all aspect so long as our services are required by EPC.“We are also looking at project managements and property development.”The signing had paved the way for equipment mobilisations from South Korea into the project construction sites before June in order to kick start the project.