Closure affects businesses in Lae

By VICKY BAUNKE
BUSINESSES in Lae were affected by the increase in the cost of transporting goods through the damaged section of the Highlands Highway in Chimbu.
Kule Beto, a vegetable farmer from Western Highlands, told The National that they were charged excessive fees to have the vegetables carried acrossw the landslip area.
“We were not allowed to carry any of our cargo or bags of vegetables across the road to the waiting PMVs on the other side because there were locals who wanted to carry our bags over and charge us for each load,” Beko said.
“For each bag of vegetable carried over, we paid K5 to K10 according to the weight. We paid K5 to use a (temporary) road to cross over.
“The normal cost of transporting our fresh produce was K10. Now we are paying K35 or more to transport our vegetables across the road block in Chimbu to Lae.
“We continue to sell our vegetables at the normal prices to our customers in Lae but we will be forced to increase prices to cater for the extra.
“We want the road to be quickly fixed and other roads along the highway to be upgraded so that we do not go through such hardships again.”
Farmers who travel from the highlands region supply vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and potatoes to the Lae market and business houses.