Papua New Guinea's public enterprises minister has suspended the board of directors of the country's beleaguered electricity provider, PNG Power.
Ben Micah has taken control of all company expenditure and directed the chief executive, John Tangit, to not interfere with its daily operations.
PNG Power is currently under an extended state of emergency declared by the National Executive Council in January in order to recoup 77 million US dollars owed to the company.
At the time, Mr Micah said police and the military could be deployed to collect unpaid power bills.
The newspaper, The National, reports Mr Micah saying the government is now in the process of preparing PNG Power for privatisation.
