HIGHLANDS HIGHWAY IN TROUBLE

OSEAH PHILEMON

The city of Lae with a population of over 200,000 people is Papua New Guinea’s second city and its industrial hub.

It is the centre of the manufacturing industry that keeps the Papua New Guinea economy rolling and moving the nation forward.

Its central location makes it ideal for business and commerce as it connects with the Highlands, Islands and Momase regions of PNG.

Unlike the capital city of Port Moresby which has no road connection anywhere, Lae is connected by road to the Highlands and Madang, making transportation vital to the economy.

The Ramu Agribusiness which produces PNG’s sugar and premier beef is connected by road to Lae and is serviced from Lae even though it is physically located in the Madang Province.

It is also home to the busiest sea port in the country that serves the entire Highlands, the Momase and Islands regions.

From Lae, goods manufactured in the city are transported into the Highlands region through the Highlands Highway for a region that is fast developing as the mainstay of the PNG economy. More than half of the six million people of PNG live in the Highlands which comprises the provinces of Eastern Highlands, Chimbu, Jiwaka, Western Highlands, Enga, Southern Highlands and Hela.

Hela and Jiwaka are new provinces carved out of the Southern Highlands (Hela) and Western Highlands (Jiwaka).

The billion dollar kina liquefied natural gas project in the Hela region of the Southern Highlands Province, Kutubu Oil also in the Southern Highlands, Porgera gold mine in the Enga province, the new Kainantu gold mine in the Eastern Highlands are at the forefront of unprecedented development never seen before in Papua New Guinea’s 35 years of independence.

But the Highlands Highway is in trouble. Its physical condition has deteriorated that heavy trucks and other road users are finding it extremely difficult to navigate their way through the winding road from Lae through to the Highlands to deliver goods required both for consumption and construction projects.

The Lae-based Road Transport Association is very concerned about the condition of the Highlands Highway and the continuing law and order problems along sections of the highway.

The Highlands Highway was built in the 1960s when its usage was minimal. Over the years as the economy of the country grew and population increased, pressure on the highway became a major concern.

The sealed highway had been carved up and potholes replaced the nice surface that was once enjoyed by users.

Jacob Luke—owner of the biggest trucking company operating in PNG—had only four words to describe the seriousness of the —“Without trucks PNG stops”.

Luke, owner of Mapai Transport, wants the government to take immediate steps to fix the highway and solve the law and order problems affecting highway users.

For many years, highway trucks have been subjected to stoning, armed holdups, vandalism and harassment by people living along the highway, costing truck owners millions of kina in damages.

Luke called on the road transport industry members to organise themselves and take their concerns to the government without delay if they wanted changes made for the betterment of the industry and the users, as well as the consumers who depend on the tonnes of goods moved in and out of the Highlands daily.

“My view is that as an important sector contributing to the development of this country, we must rise up and collectively influence public policy by applying pressure on the government to take on board our concerns and ensure adequate funding is injected towards maintenance and upkeep of our roads and related infrastructure,” Luke told the meeting.

“Fair and reasonable trucks are in high demand at this point in time to deliver goods and services to remote locations in a timely and most efficient manner.

“The discovery of oil and gas including mining in remote locations away from towns and cities requires well maintained heavy vehicle fleet to transport food supplies, medical supplies, building and construction materials, commodities for export, and heavy machinery and equipment in a timely and most efficient manner.

“You will agree with me that for trucks to meet customer demands effectively and efficiently, we must have good and well maintained roads to ensure our business is not adversely affected.

“Trucks and roads play a pivotal role in creating all the activities revolving around us,” Luke said.

He said when trucks come to a standstill, all other activities also come to a grinding halt. For example, bad roads will lead to delay in business, laying off of employees, families suffering for money and food, loans not repaid on time, and the list goes on.

“The transport industry must be seen to be a vibrant and robust sector,” said Luke.

“As a private sector, we provide and operate trucks and it is expected of us to provide commercial transport solutions to the demands of commerce and industry and indeed the general public.

“As a public sector, the government is expected to facilitate maintenance and development of the transport system.

“It is expected to ensure law and order enforcing agencies are adequately supported to promote good governance and maintain law and order.

“It must not allow issues of land compensation to unnecessarily curtail the transport sector from meeting industry and community expectations and needs,” Luke told the industry executive at the meeting.

Luke said it is unfortunate that the breakdown of road infrastructure, huge compensation claims over deaths caused by accidents, collapse of bridges and washing out of roads due to natural disasters, upsurge in law and order problems, NGOs rallying support from landowners and acting as whistle-blowers for destruction are making it increasingly difficult for the transport industry to thrive and move forward.

“In such situations, it is quite disheartening to see the industry unnecessarily derailed for issues outside of its mandate.”

But while the focus of the road transport industry is on the Highlands Highway, the condition of the roads within Lae city itself is a heart breaking story.

Almost the entire road network in and around Lae City is full of potholes and there is not enough money to fix them.

The business community has said all that it needed to say about the effects of bad roads on business. The general community are up in arms about the poor state of the roads and their effects on family budgets—especially for those who own their own vehicles.

National government officials came to Lae with its cheque book announcing big spending to fix the severely damaged Lae City roads—but it won’t be enough.

Treasurer Peter O’Neill announced that the government will immediately release K50 million to fix Lae roads in a supplementary budget soon to be delivered

O’Neill said another K50 million will be provided under the 2011 budget, bringing the total government commitment to K100 million.

He also announced he will provide more government funding to fix the Highlands Highway.

Acting Prime Minister Don Polye who was also at the ceremony announced the government wants to cement the Lae Roads..

While in Lae, Polye received a submission from the Morobe Provincial Government and Lae Urban Local Level Government asking the national government for K60 million under the 2011 Public Investment Programme to fix Lae roads.

In making the announcement, O’Neill also called on public servants to do their job and deliver services to ensure the Lae roads were fixed “once and for all.”

The call by the treasurer comes amid allegations that previous contracts given to companies to repair and maintain the Lae roads had not been wisely spent. There were also allegations that certain companies contracted to do the job did not have the required engineering expertise to carry out the task.

O’Neill said the condition of the Lae roads was a “national shame” and the government wants the right contractors to be given the contract to fix the roads.

“There should be no more excuses about funds because money is now available,” he said.

O’Neill said he would personally make sure funds are released and spent properly to fix the Lae roads.

Lae contributes one billion kina in goods and services tax to the national government in Waigani but receives a mere K30 million in return for services it delivers to the people of Lae City and the Morobe Province.

Outspoken Governor Luther Wenge has called for better recognition of Lae City and Morobe Province as the biggest province in PNG with a population of over 600,000 people but his pleas have hit the Waigani brick wall.

Now the city is witnessing the construction of a US$150 million port development project funded by the Asian Development Bank that will substantially increase the volume of imports both to Lae and the Highlands region, as well as other parts of PNG. In addition, the volume of its coffee, cocoa, copra, tea and other exports to overseas markets through Lae will increase sharply over the coming years.

Heavy machinery, building construction materials needed for the construction of the LNG project, gas and mining projects come through Lae port and then transported up to the Highlands by heavy trucks.

Thus the importance of Lae city to the PNG economy has been well acknowledged, however, the physical condition of its road network remains a truly national shame as stated by Treasurer O’Neill.