25 Mar 2004

Solomon Islands National Provident Fund to sell ship belonging to debtor

4:05 pm on 25 March 2004

The Solomon Islands National Provident Fund is continuing to sell the properties of its defaulting debtors.

Two weeks ago it put up for tender the headquarters of the publicly owned Solomon Islands Electricity Authority in Honiara to try and recover a debt of more than one million US dollars the Authority had borrowed to buy generators.

Now the NPF is to sell an inter-island cruise ship, the Ramos 2, which is owned by the Malaita Shipping Company, a trading arm of the Malaitan Provincial Government.

The NPF general manager, Tony Makambo, says the Company has an outstanding debt with the Fund of around eight hundred thousand US dollars.

Following a High Court order, the Ramos 2 was retrieved from Vanuatu where it was on lease in Shefa province.

The Malaitan Government had hoped that the lease would have helped to repay the loan.