Only two of 40 ‘Apec 2018’ Maseratis sold

News that matter in Papua New Guinea

Only two of 40 ‘Apec 2018’ Maseratis sold

PORT MORESBY: Two Maserati “super luxury” cars have been sold, 14 successfully tendered for K200,000 each and 24 are awaiting approval to be tendered, National Procurement Commission chief executive Simon Bole says.

“The cars were bought by two companies in in the country as official cars for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) 2018,” he added.

“Last year, 14 Maserati cars were put on tender, and one overseas company and 13 individuals from Papua New Guinea successfully won the tender to buy the cars.

“However, it is still in the process and they have not yet made the payments,” he added.

The news break was published by The National:

Only two of 40 Maseratis sold

November 8, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By REBECCA KUKU
TWO Maserati “super luxury” cars have been sold, 14 successfully tendered for K200,000 each and 24 are awaiting approval to be tendered, says National Procurement Commission chief executive Simon Bole.
“The cars were bought by two companies in the country as official cars for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) 2018,” he added.
“Last year, 14 Maserati cars were put on tender, and one overseas company and 13 individuals from Papua New Guinea successfully won the tender to buy the cars.
“However, it is still in the process and they have not yet made the payments.
“So now we have 24 Maserati awaiting approval from the board to be put on the market.”
The fleet of 40 Maserati cars was bought by the then Peter O’Neill Government for the Apec 2018 leaders’ summit in Port Moresby.
The cars were bought for K500,000 each or a total of K200 million through a dealer in Sri Lanka and flown in by a jumbo jet charter to chauffeur world leaders at the meeting, sparking widespread outrage from the public at the time.
The Apec minister then was Justin Tkatchenko. who promised the country that the vehicles would “sell like hot cakes”.
Four years later, only two Maseratis have been sold.
The then Government boasted the Maseratis would be snapped up after Apec 2018.
“The purchase sparked a controversy, with some leaders refusing to use them.”
Now the country — one of the poorest in the Pacific — will sell them at huge losses.
“If we had any foresight, the Maseratis would not have been bought in the first place,” then Finance Minister Sir John Pundari told local media.
“I do not know the reasons we went down the path of buying Maseratis and now we are caught up with this dilemma,” he added.
The cars were touted to be sold at about K400,000 each but now about K200,000 each — down from K500,000 each when bought.

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