I cannot maintain all roads with K30m: Polye

MINISTER for Works and Transport Don Polye says he cannot maintain the country’s roads with the amount of money allocated to him.
Don Poyle said his department worked hard at maintaining the roads in PNG which people needed to realise was a very expensive job.
He said he cannot do it well with the K30 million allocated to him.
“This sum is absurd! I cannot do anything with this sum. I will need at least K300 million in order to make sure that the maintenance of the roads are standard,” he said.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, the re-appointed minister said common sense and responsibility must prevail in order to avoid such accidents as the recent one in Morobe province last week.
Mr Polye said there are three contributing factors to accidents and these were the human factor, the vehicular factor and the mechanical factor.
“The human factor rests on common sense and the driver’s responsibility for his/her life and the passengers,’’ he said.
“The driver is responsible for the state of his vehicle in ensuring that it is safe, sound and road worthy as the fact remains that it is the driver who is responsible for all the lives onboard his vehicle.”
Mr Polye said it was unfair for people to blame the Works and Transport Department for the conditions of the roads.
According to the crash site report compiled by the works regional team three days after the accident, a contractor was carrying out maintenance work along the highway, with evidence that work was being carried out on that fateful day but not where it occurred.
The report also cited that the potholes were all less than 1m wide with a minimum size of 300mm.
The length of concentration of potholes on the Lae-end was 13.2m while the staggered potholes on the Watarais-end stretched to 88.1m.
He said this accident had resulted in a massive loss of lives with 43 dead and still counting.
Mr Polye, on behalf of the Government and his department, offered his condolences to the families and friends of the deceased.