Youth says progress at Bitapaka not true

By ABIGAIL APINA
A YOUTH leader in Bitapaka local level government, Kokopo, in East New Britain has described a statement by the LLG president as misleading.
The media report last Wednesday had claimed that the current level of development taking place in the Bitapaka area was satisfactory.
The youth leader, who refused to reveal his identity in the media, said there were no tangible developments happening in Bitapaka.
“We are still experiencing difficulties as in the past because there are no real developments taking place,” he said.
He said the water tank project would cause more inconveniences because they were given to only five families.
“With the dry spell experienced at this time, it would have been better for that money to be spent on developing our existing water wells or channelling more water to a central location for everyone to use,” the youth leader said.
He said the sealed road from the Bitapaka war cemetery to Gaulim plantation, which was awarded to Covec Engineering and completed two months ago, had started deteriorating.
The company, he said, had returned to patch the problem sections.
However, project engineer David Yangin of Jark Engineering Services, which was contracted for this road project, said construction was still in progress.
He said the 16.7km Ganai road was divided into nine sections with upgrading, pavement rebuilding and sealing now being done by Covec Engineering.
According to Yangin, the 6km road from the war cemetery to Gaulim involved the first three sections which were temporarily completed to accommodate heavy trucks using the road in order to speed up the project.
“The project started last May and is expected to be completed in December.
“Road construction is still in progress and is 20%-30% completed,” Yangin said.
The Kokopo district administration said it was too early for people to complain and comment on the current developments taking place as they were still in progress.