The Board of Directors
- provide effective leadership and direction to enhance the long-term value of the Authority to its shareholders and other stakeholders;
- oversee the business affairs of the Authority and that all Directors exercise due diligence and independent judgement and make decisions objectively in the best interest of PAT;
- sets the right direction to ensure that a robust governance structure is in place to enable the Authority to succeed and deliver long term growth;
The framework of rules and practices by which the Board of directors ensures accountability, fairness, and transparency in PATs relationship with its stakeholders aligns with the Ports Authority Act 1998 and the Public Enterprises Act 2002.
This included PAT’s commitment to judicious use of the Port’s facilities and responsible infrastructure development that contributes to the socio-economic development of Tonga through maritime trade.
The essence of good governance is leadership. Good Governance is a fundamental principle of Ports Authority Tonga (PAT). The Board of Directors are aware of the responsibilities it has for stewardship and accountability to its shareholders, the Government of Tonga. The Board works closely with management to ensure that issues of disclosure, transparency, due processes and probity are continually under review and maintained at consistently high levels.
Role of the Board
The Board is appointed by the Shareholder in accordance with the Ports Authority Act 2010:
(i) To assist the public enterprise to achieve its principal objective.
Functions of the Board
The Board of Directors acts in the best interest of the Authority, and their key roles are summarized as:
- Ensure that the public enterprise and subsidiary conducts its business and all decisions made by the board are in accordance with its principal objective;
- Not act, or agree to the public enterprise and subsidiary acting, in a manner that contravenes the law or the constitution of the public enterprise;
- Not agree to, cause or allow the business of the public enterprise and subsidiary to be carried on in a manner likely to create a substantial risk of serious loss to the public enterprise’s creditors; or
- Not agree to the public enterprise and subsidiary incurring an obligation unless the director believes at the time on reasonable grounds that the public enterprise shall be able to perform the obligation when it is required to do so
(Source: 2021 Ports Authority Annual Report)