50,000 in Kandep cut off by landslide

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A LANDSLIDE has cut off 50,000 people from Enga’s Kandep district off from the rest of the province.
The landslide occurred last month at Lian Mountain in the Laiagam district, which borders Kandep district.
A 50m section of the road carved on the side of the mountain was washed away in deep mud during heavy rainfall in the area.
It was reported that this had seen basic medical supplies at health centres, food rations at Kandep High School and trade stores running out of supplies.
Fuel and lubricant  stocks in Kandep station are increasingly low.
People there have been forced to walk 10km from Kandep station to Lien and 400m further down to catch PMVs to Wabag.
Sick people needing urgent medical attention are finding it very hard to get out of the district.
Reports said people found it very difficult to transport their produce to markets in Laiagam or Wabag town.
The supply of goods and services have been completely cut off, reports say.
The provincial works division has a local contractor, Kaystar Construction Company, to build a new by-pass road.
Kaystar managing director Paul Kurai confirmed this yesterday afternoon.
He added  that his machines were at the site last week and had started working on the new by-pass.
He also said landowner issues had delayed progress of the work last week but after he spoke to them they agreed to let the machines work on the road.
He said it would take at least four weeks to complete the by-pass.