Chinese ‘shoe king’ to invest K70m in shoe factory

Source:
The National - Tuesday, March 8, 2011
By ISAAC NICHOLASA CHINESE “shoe king” has decided to invest K70 million in a shoe factory in Port Moresby.This was revealed in a joint media conference by Commerce and Industry Minister Gabriel Kapris and AUSPECT PNG Ltd chairman Wilson Xue.AUSPECT has its head office in Sydney and runs a chain of shoe stores in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne but has its shoe factories based in mainland China.Xue said when he first came to PNG, he felt uncomfortable but after spending more time here he has fallen in love with the country.“In China, people call me the ‘shoe king’ as more than 1,000 people work for me and we export millions of shoes around the world,” Xue said.“PNG is one country which has the potential to become a rich country in the world with its vast natural resources.”He said the company was looking forward to investing in PNG and a shoe factory would start in three months time and was expected to be completed by next year.Xue said the factory when its starts would provide 300 jobs to locals.Kapris said the K70 million investment would include a training component for Papua New Guineans as part of the small to medium enterprise (SME) programme to train locals with basic skills for them to start on their own.He said the factory would supply both the domestic and overseas market.