Compo stalls roadwork

By ELIAS LARI and JEFFREY ELAPA
COMPENSATION and other landowner issues have hindered maintenance work on the Kora River culvert in Dei, Western Highlands.
National Road Authority chief executive officer Ponege Poya made the statement in response to claims made by the people of Dei that lives had been affected as the Government failed to fix the damaged bridge.
Poya said heavy rainfall in late January had washed parts of culvert away.
He said attempts had been made to rebuild the bridge soon after the damage, with an existing road maintenance programme between the Kotna and Banz redirected to assist, but compensation demands by landowners had halted work.
Poya said locals further demanded compensation or some form of relief for the destruction of their food gardens from the road works.
“We got fed up with their (landowners) behaviour and withdrew and the problem was left unattended for almost eight months,” he said.
He said several other sections of the highway from Banz would also undergo maintenance.
Local MP and Minister for Public Service Minister Westly Nukundj told the people to be reasonable and allow developments to take place.
Poya said the locals, not accustomed to the process, accused the Dei District and the Western Highlands government for failing to fix the problem when they were the ones at fault.
Nukundj said the road construction was a state project and came under the National Road Authority and not the function of the provincial government or his district development authority.
He said, although the maintenance work had stopped, he was working with all stakeholders, state and local, to restart work on the road and bridge. Nukundj said, after negotiations with the community leaders, work on the bridge and culvert would be done.
He, however, warned the people not to demand compensation and other unnecessary demands as that would stop the progress of the reconstruction work. Landowners and locals said they had been adversely affected (coffee farms, schools, vegetable farms, health facilities, churches and small businesses) by the damaged bridge and culvert.