H’way design old, says Wereh

By LUKE KAMA
THE poor condition of the Madang-Ramu Highway is due to the fact that it was built 20 years ago and not designed to cater for the volume of traffic is getting today, says Works Secretary David Wereh, pictured, says.
He was responding to concerns raised by road users on the deteriorating condition of the road.
“We agree with the concerns. It is the result of a number of long-standing issues affecting the conditions of our roads,” he said.
“The Ramu Madang Highway was only a track road built 20 years ago for the purpose of running power lines. The road was never designed to meet environmental and technical standards to stabilise the unstable sections as well as withstand the impacts of the adverse weather conditions caused by the impacts of climate change and growing traffic demand.”
He said maintenance issues related to landslips on highways were inevitable.
He said the challenges of climate change and growing traffic demand on the roads is huge.
“Regarding the section of the Ramu-Madang Highway at Tapo mountain, a proper feasibility study is being made by the World Bank for the proper design and rebuild of this section.
“Under Australian aid, we are doing some long-term maintenance along the Markham valley section. In addition, six major bridges along Madang-Ramu are at the stage of construction in the next few months.”