Heavy rain washes away parts of highway

 By DOROTHY MARK 

HEAVY rain in Madang has washed out  sections of the  Madang-Lae Highway, causing  chaos for motorists and travellers.

Russel Meluk, from Ramu NiCo’s inland pipeline project area, said road sections between Kawar Market, Iti Ruwe and Negiri in the Usino LLG of Usino-Bundi district had disappeared.

It was difficult for PMV buses and trucks to cross in those sections, Meluk said.

“There are very deep potholes and cracks caused by the heavy rainfalls in the area and road is slippery in thick mud and is very dangerous,” he told The National.

Meluk, who heads a local road construction company, said he enquired about the situation of the highway at the Works Department branch in town but was told that there were no funds available at present to fix the road.

A source at the branch said funds would be available once the provincial government accounts were opened.

Meluk said locals in the area were assisting PMV buses through and charging at least K20.

The driver of The National newspaper contract vehicle said he paid some local boys K50 yesterday to pull his bus loaded with newspapers up a slippery slope.

Madang disaster office acting director Rudolph Mongallee warned of landslides in the area.

Mongallee said the house of a community health worker at the Ono Mountain was destroyed by a landslide last week.

He cautioned people living in the area to move away from slopes to avoid accidents.