Exxon to spend K2.3bn on highway

By JEFFREY ELAPA
LNG project developer ExxonMobil will invest more than US$1 billion (K2.33 billion) in the long term to repair roads and bridges along the 700km Highlands Highway.
This was announced yesterday during a consultative meeting at the Department of Works headquarters in Port Moresby between ExxonMobil officials and Works Minister Peter O’Neill.
ExxonMobil senior project manager development support Mark Hackney said during the next five years, they would commit US$400 million for roads and bridges – which  is US$80 million a year.
He said the LNG project saw the road network as essential because it had to cater for more than 8,000 trucks  on the highway carrying loads.
Works Secretary Joel Luma said the 700km Highlands Highway from Lae to Hides gas fields would be  redesigned to cater for vehicles of 40-tonne capacity while the bridges’ capacity would be strengthened to handle 60 tonnes load at a time.
Hackney said ExxonMobil would re-seal and fix all the bridges in the next 20 years while immediately upgrading, repairing and resealing the highway and drainage during the next five years.
Hackney said bridges, mainly in the Southern Highlands from Mendi to Hides, would be widened for a two-lane traffic.
He said ExxonMobil planned to redeem 30,000km of roads of which 9,000km were classed as national roads.
O’Neill said all scope of work and specifications should be forwarded to his department so that a submission was made to the National Executive Council.
He said the project specifications would have to meet the standard requirement set by Works Department. O’Neill said development partners like the Asian Development Bank would be invited to be government’s partner in the project.
He said Works would study the ExxonMobil submission before taking it to Cabinet for funding in the supplementary budget.