Expert: Road needs more funds

By RIGGO NANGAN
THE work on the Lae to Finschhafen road would need between K4 million and K5 million to complete, a civil works mentor has said.
Morobe administration civil works supervisor Moses Nawak, who has been the technical expert behind the Finschhafen road project which kicked off last Saturday, said more money was needed to complete the work.
Minziong Ltd, a local road works contractor from Pindiu in Finschhafen has started the work with its own resources and a K500,000 allocation from the district support improvement programme.
Nawak said the total distance of the road project was 195.4km from the Bukawa side of the Buso River and Wagangluhu village in the Nawaeb district, to Finschhafen.
The 28km section of the road between Lae and Wagangluhu village was in good condition and being used by vehicles.
Nawak said the type of work to be carried out on the road would involve rehabilitation which included upgrading and maintenance of the old road which had been left to deteriorate over the years.
Nawak also pointed out that wet crossings and bridges would also be part of the project. 
He specified that the road links were from Wagangluhu village to Buham River in Bukawa, also in Nawaeb district, which is a 38km stretch, then Bukawa to Ogerenang station in Finschhafen district, which was 48.7km.
Wagangluhu is 28km from Lae and is where the Buso River bridge linking Bukawa and Lae used to be.
The bridge was completely washed away by flood in 1994, and since then, people had been using inflated tubes to cross the river or on foot.
According to the project implementers, a temporary wet crossing will be at  Buso River.
Immediately after Ogerenang and on to Mindik station which is 17km and then to Pindiu station, which is 22km. 
Pindiu station will link up with Heldsbach which is 58.7km towards the coast and the turn-off to Sialum in the Tewai-Siassi district.
Gagidu station, which is the district headquarter for Finschhafen, is 11.1km away from Heldsbach.
Nawak said he was the driver of three vehicles who made a round trip to Finschhafen in 2007 after the completion of the first construction.
Meanwhile, the project has proceeded well since it started last Saturday.