200km of rural roads under Works

 MORE than 2000km of rural roads infrastructure come under the jurisdiction of the Works Department, Deputy Secretary John Ame says.

He said the roads often deteriorated due to the high rainfall conditions and required constant maintenance and upgrading.

Ame, speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Bukawa road project last Thursday, said it would kick-start the department’s technical cooperation project for the capacity development on road maintenance.

“This project aims at complementing and strengthening the output of 48 units of construction equipment under the grant aid project by developing the capacity of Department of Works (DoW) staff who will operate them,” he said.

Ame said under the four-year project. a team of Japanese experts would conduct on-the-job-training for DoW technical staff in mechanical and civil works on selected project sites.

“This pilot project is the first of many such projects that will be undertaken under the technical cooperation programme and DoW stand ready to assist JICA,” he said.

“The project seeks to assist PNG in the road maintenance, disaster management and capacity building areas. 

“Through this we hope to strengthen the project implementation capacity of the 

“DoW in-house staff areas where private involvement is not feasible,” Ame said.

“These are the target areas for this technical cooperation programme and we are most grateful to JICA for facilitating it.

“DoW will make sure that when the four years are up, the people of these project sites will maximise transport accessibility to the rural population who depend on these road networks to access basic government services. 

“It would allow for efficient flow of produce to markets and for the flow of consumer goods and services to communities.”