The planned meeting today between the police and its stakeholders with the public transport service providers in Port Moresby city did not eventuate as expected due to the poor turnout of the transport owners and operators.
The National Capital District (NCD) Metropolitan Superintendent, Mr. Silva Sika said it was unfortunate because he wanted the taxi and Public Motor Vehicle (PMV) operators to know what the police and its stakeholders have in store to ensure the safety of the pedestrians, commuters and transport operators.
“My priority is to make sure safety is number one, we want to make sure safety and security is guaranteed for our city,” he said.
He said the reason for the strategies in place is simply due to the fact that most of the PMVs and taxis break traffic rules on a daily basis and in the process, putting the safety of the public in danger.
“We cannot allow this to go on like no one is caring about this behaviour and attitude.”
Mr. Sika said they have already carried out some of the plans, like the monitoring of school crossings by the enforcement compliance unit from the National Capital District Commission (NCDC) at the start of the school year, which is just part of other strategies police and its stakeholders have planned to carryout.
“The meeting we are trying to hold here is about telling them about what mechanism or strategies we are going to use to control the behaviour of the taxi drivers and PMVs because they are the main offenders.”
“We have laws here, time and time again we deal with people when they are committing offences, but they never change, they continue to do that every day. It’s a daily routine violation of traffic laws in NCD and we can’t allow this to happen.”
Nevertheless, Mr. Sika still wants to hold this meeting with the public transport owners and operators; therefore, he told those few that were present at the Unagi Park this afternoon that this meeting is now moved to next week Sunday 26th February, at the same place.
He also urged them to pass the word along to their colleagues so that most of them can be present next week Sunday for this important meeting with them.
Meanwhile, the stakeholders that are also assisting police enforcing the traffic laws are the Motor Vehicle Insurance Limited (MVIL), Road Traffic Authority (RTA), Central Province Transport Authority, Pacific Corporate Security (PCS) Limited which provides the Bus Stop Wardens service, and the PMV Association.
Most of their representatives were also present at the planned meeting this afternoon.