Difficult road section gets K170mil

By LUKE KAMA
THE Chimbu section of the Highlands Highway is the most-problematic and a separate contract of K170 million has been awarded to China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC), says Works Secretary David Wereh.
He said the contract involved road stabilisation, maintenance and rehabilitations.
The K170 million contract is part of a K658 million contract signed in Port Moresby on Friday under the K3 billion Sustainable Highland Highway Investment Programme (SHHIP).
The programme is to maintain, rehabilitate and rebuild the Highlands Highway to internationally-accepted standard.
Wereh said the K658 million was the first tranche of the K3 billion SHHIP funded through a low-interest loan secured by the Government from Asian Development Bank (ADB). “The first tranche of K658 million comprises of three sections,” he said. “One is the Chimbu section which is about 57km and starts from Mangiro to Munde, awarded to CHEC at the total contract value of K170 million.
“The other section is from Nadzab, in Lae, to Henganofi Bridge, in the Eastern Highlands, which is awarded to Metallurgical Corporation of China Limited, an international firm from China at the total contract value of K229 million.”