Ex-MP hails govt for road upgrade

By ZACHERY PER
FORMER member for Kundiawa-Gembogl Wagi Merimba has praised the government for upgrading the Kundiawa-Gembogl Road in Chimbu.
He said the road had been neglected for too long, throwing into chaos business activities, tourism developments and transportation of fresh vegetables to markets.
“I thank the O’Neill-Namah government for giving money to engage Shorncliffe Construction company to
upgrade and seal the road.
“I acknowledge the support from the go­vernment to upgrade road to make it accessible for the people,” Merimba said.
He said the free edu­cation policy by the government was welcome news for struggling parents who could not afford to find money for their children’s school fees.
Merimba said parents were now relieved and “will now be at ease to attend to other needs of their children like clothes, stationery, food and other costs”.
“The government is really helping people in rural areas.
“I would like to see this government exist for as long as it can to serve the real needs of the people,” Merimba said.
Kundiawa-Gembogl MP Tobias Kulang is fighting hard to make sure the Kundiawa-Gembogl road is made accessible.
He spent almost K1 million to engage the people who live along the road to clear it.
Kulang earlier said he was happy they were able to transport their products into Kundiawa, Goroka and Mt Hagen markets and even to Lae and Madang.
Kulang said he unfortunately had a very short period as MP before the next election but his priority “is to fix the road”.
He said he had bought some dump trucks and plant equipment that would complement existing machines operated by the Kundiawa-Gembogl Development Corporation to repair the road.
The Kundiawa-Gembogl-Mondia road has not been maintained for the past 25 years and he wanted to see it done properly.
In the meantime, to keep the road passable, the people are clearing it manually.
He said he paid out K900,000 to the people who manually cleared the road.
Kulang said the first phase of the sealing contract awarded to Shorncliffe would begin soon from Yuai to Gewa village.