Friday, July 26, 2013

Mendi-Tari road becomes risky



BY PEARSON KOLO

THE Mendi to Tari road in Southern Highlands and Hela provinces and into the PNG LNG project area is becoming very dangerous for both the public and big international companies to travel on.
The highway is literally deteriorating and people are pushing vehicles in many sections of the road while locals freely collecting huge fees on every vehicle after patching some of the bad sections.
 
Many vehicles and the travelling public are even robbed and vehicles stoned and truck drivers are continuously abused.
This has raised question among many people from Hela and Southern Highlands Provinces on where the K300 million infrastructure grants from the LNG project were put to.
A public commuter Henny Hayabe who was travelling to Mt Hagen from Tari on a PMV had to turn back to Tari from Nipa after locals from Nipa tried to rob the PMV bus he was travelling in.
 
Mr Hayabe said the PMV stopped at a bad section of the road and several men jumped out of the bush and tried to hold up the PMV.
“But our driver quickly turned the vehicle and we went back to Tari and travelled to Mt Hagen the next day,” Mr Hayabe said.
Mr Hayabe called on the provincial and national government to do something about the road, saying the road had been used by the the travelling public and big trucks engaged in the PNG LNG prject.
“The construction phase for the LNG project is nearly over and the K300 million infrastructure grants has not achieved anything tangible in the province,” Mr Hayabe said.
“But it is better for the Government to fix the road before it deteriorates further,” Mr Hayabe said.

No comments:

Post a Comment