Flooded families call on NCD to fix culvert

By GIBSON TORASO
Families affected by flooding at Tokarara in Port Moresby last Friday night are calling on NCD Governor Powes Parkop and Moresby North-West MP Sir Mekere Morauta to replace a culvert.
The flooding, which started at 8.30pm, caught residents by surprise and rose to more than two metres.
It damaged properties and belongings including vehicles, TVs, washing machines, fridges, laptops and other things.
Raku Compound landlord representative Daniel Berry said replacing the culvert was the responsibility of the NCD Commission.
He said after a similar flood a few years ago, some measures were taken to protect his propertyg.
“The new road from Waigani to Hanuabada, and other developments taking place in the Tokarara area meansthat the amount of water flowing when it rains is also expected to increase,” Berry said.
His property supervisor, Pala Riagu, said a company was awarded a contract for extension work for the drain but had never replaced the culvert.
“While the drain was extended, the culvert was never replaced,” he said.
“NCDC need to fix this problem between Raku Compound and TST flats.
“Culvert must be wide and high for water to flow freely.
“They (contractor) extended the drain but they never did anything about the culvert.
“It was NCDC’s failure to replace the culvert that contributed to the flood.”
Longtime resident John Yari said the flood used to happen when the drain was narrow.
“Now the drain is extended and big,” he said.
“Flood shouldn’t have happened but culvert is too small to hold the flowing volume of drain water. Wide drain and small culvert is like a bottleneck. That’s the problem. If culvert widens, the volume of water will flow smoothly.”