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K60million to fund Momase road rehab
By ISAAC NICHOLAS
THE Works Department has signed a memorandum of agreement (MoU) for a
K60 million soft loan from Finland for the maintenance of rural roads in
the two Sepik provinces and Madang.
The deal was signed in Helsinki last Sept 25 by Vice-Minister for Works
James Marabe on behalf of the Department of Works (DOW) and the Finnish
government.
Mr Marabe told a media briefing after his team’s arrival last Friday
that the concessional credit was about US$20 million or K61 million.
He said it would be used to fund soft asphalt concrete technology for
rural roads in East Sepik, Sandaun and Madang, as pilot provinces.
The loan will include the purchase of the soft asphalt concrete
machinery that will be used for rural roads identified as low-traffic
roads.
He said the credit was “zero interest” and was very favourable to PNG.
Mr Marabe said after the deal signing he hoped that the PNG Government
would draw down the financing in the next couple of months and work to
start in the three provinces within six months.
The PNG Government through Works setup a twining arrangement with the
Finnish road administration (FINNRA) in 1999 through the road asset
management systems project.
FINNRoad is a consultancy company from Finland where the consultants to
the project made the twinning arrangement possible.
The twinning arrangement was for exchange of technology and ideas in the
road sector and in 2001, a MoU was signed between FINNRA and DOW, which
led to a development co-operation agreement at the technical level.
The Finland ministry of foreign affairs then fielded an appraisal
mission in 2006 and the report was accepted by its government.
Works, Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Don Polye who welcomed back
Mr Marabe’s team said rural roads were in very bad state and the funding
was good news for the country.
Mr Marabe was accompanied on the trip by senior Works and National
Planning officers who earlier had attended a three-day world road
congress in Paris before travelling with the Vice Minister to Helsinki.
 
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