Dept restores section of highway washed by flood, part of new approach

A SECTION of the Madang-Ramu Highway which was washed away by flood recently has been restored, according to Department of Works and Implementation secretary David Wereh.
Wereh said this when The National asked about an update of the roads in Madang that this was a result of the department’s new approach to road maintenance by having a full time contractor on standby.
“We have a contractor readily available and within the minimum 24 hours that we have set, that section of the highway has been restored fully now for traffic accessibility,” Wereh said.
“We have some proactive arrangements and the Madang-Ramu Highway is one of the economic lifeline roads. The treatment we are giving in terms of maintenance is different from the past years.
“We got long terms contractors on the site from the support of our donor partners and we don’t have to wait to look for money and equipment,” he said.
“We are also aware of the main section of the highway mainly up at Tapo, and down at the valley, you already have some maintenance going on which I think is generally in a fair condition.
“Up at the top is very tough because we have challenges of earth movements and other natural forces at work that’s causing instability.
“We are trying to find a long term solution to this and under the World Bank programme, there is a design team already mobilised, and as soon as documents are ready we are going to tender this.”
Wereh said hopefully in the next five to six years they hoped to get the roads in a much reliable, safe and standard highway.