Anger as officials buy Maseratis for summit in poverty-hit PNG

Cars arrive at a time when diseases like polio and TB have re-emerged

Papua New Guinea has bought 40 Maserati sports cars to chauffeur world leaders around next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, triggering an outcry from critics who say the povertystricken country has better things to spend its money on.

The cars — which retail for about US$150,000 (Dh550,950) each — arrive at a time when diseases such as polio and TB have re-emerged in PNG. Two charter flights from Italy arrived this week and pictures of the vehicles being unloaded in Port Moresby were soon doing the rounds on social media.

Northern Province governor Gary Joffa, a frequent critic of the government, said money spent on the cars would have been better used to alleviate PNG’s chronic social ills. “Papua New Guinea is facing so many problems insofar as health, education, law and order,” he told Australia’s ABC. “I just think it’s a slap in the face of the people in Papua New Guinea who are suffering.”

Concerns reinforced

PNG, the least developed of Apec’s 41 member nations, is hosting the annual summit of world leaders on November 17-18.

Many in the country, where more than a third of the eight million-strong population lives in poverty, were already uncomfortable with the money being spent to host APEC.

The purchase has reinforced their concerns.

“Don’t even know where to start ... This is ridiculous, our people deserve so much better. Can the whole country just boycott #APEC2018 and the delusional #PNG government!?,” Twitter user Tannah posted.