Works Minister Michael Nali has explained that the fee charges imposed by the Department of Works on JICA donated road work equipment was done so as to meet the cost involved in maintaining these equipment. He made this known in Parliament yesterday after Rabaul MP Dr Allan Marat raised concerns as to why the Provincial Works Department in East New Britain has been charging fees for the utilization of the equipment. Mr Nali explained that these equipment were donated by JICA specifically to the disaster-stricken provinces including East and West Sepik, East and West New Britain, Hela, Southern Highlands and Gulf Provinces. “Yes, I do acknowledge that there are fees being charged and we do have a division under the department that is responsible in issuing the charges, which is basically to maintain these equipment,” Mr Nali said. “On many occasions, the department does not receive the full budget for the maintenance of equipment therefore, we are doing this.” “There are actually two options given, either you pay a fee to the PTD division to carry out the road work or you pay a small fee to the division for the usage of the equipment.”