Pomio road opens up a new world

By ELIZABETH VUVU
FOR more than 12 years, people along the South Coast area in Pomio district of East New Britain have not had access to a proper road network.
The area is fertile land and an bundance of food gardens and cash crops grow there but moving these into markets for cash was a major hindrance due to no road network or very basic treks that suffered in the wet season.
But these problems are now a thing of the past since the Pomio District Development Authority decided to create accessibility for the rural majority and upgrade the South Coast economic corridor access highway which is more than 74km long and will ultimately link Pomio to Kokopo.
This road is one of seven key economic corridor access highways in the country to be built under the government and district strategic development plan.
It covers the upper and lower Warangoi to Sikut through Putput, Kambubu Secondary school, Lat, Mungo Health centre, Gar, Sumsum, Merai, and to Ili.
Work is in progress and already upgrade of 66km of the road from upper and lower Warangoi to Merai village in Sinivit LLG has been done.
This stretch of road that previously takes up to five hours of driving now take less than two hours from either Kokopo or Warangoi to Merai.
The road is yet to cut through to East Pomio, Central Inland Pomio, West Pomio Mamusi and Melkoi. The cuts will be done once funding becomes available.
On Thursday, Dec 22, media personnel accompanied the Pomio MP, Elias Kapavore, Sinivit LLG president Boniface Gerep, Tzen Niugini representative Michael Paisparea and Digicel PNG Government Relations representative, Shent Kiddie on a two- hour drive from Bitapaka to Merai village.
Testimonies of village elders from the respective areas revealed that people really had a hard time in the past.
They had to walk long distances, sometimes with cargo and there were times when rain caused the craters on the road to fill with water and the going was really tough for people from that area.
The villagers cocoa and coconut plantations became neglected when vehicles rarely stopped there to bring produce to the town markets.
Gabriel Polok a village elder from Merai in Sinivit LLG said the LLG was closest to Kokopo district but had remained unchanged for a long time.
“There has been no change in the road conditions and we have no proper communication with the rest of ENB. We just take each day as it comes,” Polok said.
He said since the road was upgraded, things have changed and they were able to carry their produce to the market.
They’ve now started clearing their cocoa and coconut blocs to take advantage of the good prices.
Communication is a major need in the area right now because with the onset of developments following the upgrading of the road, social problems are bound to be on the rise. Polok says a police post needs to set up in Mungou.
He has appealed to Digicel to establish towers in various locations around the area so to assist in times of health and other emergencies.
“We give praise to God the Father for choosing you to be our leader and for seeing our great need of a proper road,” Polok told Kapavore.
Kiddie admitted that Digicel coverage was not yet up to scratch in the area but promised the locals that their grievances would be taken up with the Digicel management.
Kapavore thanked governor and PEC for committing K600, 000 for the South coast corridor saying the Pomio DDA will counter fund with another K500, 000.
“This is the real road that will connect to Kokopo to the five LLGs of Pomio,” Kapavore said.
“A step at a time will surely get us to the end of the road. The people of Pomio are happy to see that an important decision is implemented today.
“It will bring so many positive economic changes to many people in my district,” Kapavore said.
The road development project is being undertaken under and promoted the Public Private Partnership (PPP) policy with developer Tzen Niugini with Pomio DDA already committing nearly K2 million.
The second phase of the road will continue to be funded until it reaches Masarau and on to East Pomio. It will then be sealed.