‘Kabwum needs roads’

By ELLEN TIAMU
A COMMUNITY leader has called for more roads to be built in the Kabwum district to link all local level government areas.
Amna Abungo said that would see people benefit fully from the sale of garden food,
cash crops, timber and livestock.
He said oil and minerals were being discovered in their area but access into the district station and into Lae was a major problem.
Abungo said the road transport could only access Wasu, Kabwum, Indagen, Derim and Konge, while villagers in Komba, Deyamos and Yus
local level government areas had to walk long distances
to access government and other services.
He said Kabwum MP Bob Dadae had promised in
2008 that the Papua New
Guinea Defence Force’s engineering battalion would be working on the Lae to Indagen and Kabwum roads but that had not eventuated.
He said people were still struggling to carry bags of coffee to the coast to sell
before crossing rivers and mountains with building materials and store goods back to
their villages.
Patients are being carried for long distances to seek
medical assistance and
bodies of the dead relatives take the long arduous route home.
Abungo praised former Kabwum members Tani
Kungo, Buaki Singeri, Stoy Umut and Rauke Gam for
bringing development to the area.