State of our roads tell a different story about the country

A FRIEND of mine once told me that rivers speak a thousand languages.
I am inclined to believe that the roads and highways that we have in PNG speak a thousand languages too.
You can beat your chest and say all the good things you want to say about the state of our country’s economy and so on but the conditions of our roads tell a different story.
What is the first impression that an American tourist gets while he travels up the Highlands Highway?
You can tell him all the good things under the sun about PNG. But I am sure he will not be convinced by all your rhetoric.
He knows that here is a country that is somewhat sick and needs some kind of medication to get out of its present ailing state.
The condition of the highways and roads in PNG tells a foreign visitor everything that he or she needs to know about the state of affairs in our country.
There is a saying that goes: ‘You can convince some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time.’
Rhetoric versus reality!
It is not impossible to know which takes precedence in a country that is moving into the new millennium. David Beckham was in Mt Hagen in 2015.
I believe the world champion footballer must have felt so repulsive as he was being transported from the Kagamuga Airport into Mt Hagen on a highway riddled with potholes.
Beckham is not used to travelling on pot-holed roads and so are his European compatriots.
We definitely need tourism dollar in PNG to transform our economy but let us not forget that we have a lot of work to do before we can lure tourists here.
The government must engage reputable road construction companies with international or proven track record to rebuild our highways in PNG to world-class standard.
When something is built to last, the benefits outweigh the costs over a long period of time.
Some governments of emerging economies around the world are presently embarking on the construction of world-class infrastructures in their countries while here in PNG we have a tendency to build roads that do not seem to last.
I am looking forward to the day when this country will be set on course to becoming an industrialised nation on the face of this planet.

Paul Waugla Wii
Kerowagi, Chimbu