K20mil allocated to build new bridge

National Planning and Monitoring Minster and Yangoru Sausia MP Richard Maru, pictured, has committed K20 million to build a Hawain bridge in West Coast, East Sepik.
Maru visited the area on Tuesday and committed the funds for the reconstruction of the bridge.
The bridge was built in the 1950s.
The bridge connects about 80,000 people of the coastal areas of the province to access basic services in Wewak town.
He said the Hawain bridge would be built of concrete and comprise two lanes.
Maru said funding was secured and work should start in two weeks.
Simogun Highway landowner Jerry Saus recalled that the construction of the bridge started in 1959 under the colonial administration – when he was doing elementary at Boikin Primary School.
Saus said that in 1963 he was transferred to Hawain primary and remembers when the “white man” asked them to march on the newly constructed bridge to mark its official opening.
In 1970s the ropes were done away with, metal frames were used on the bridge.
Hawain’s decrepit stage today marks years of neglect by succeeding governments and authorities.
The condition of the bridge worsened, which forced the locals to cut coconut trunks to replace rotten timbers.
Truck driver Mathias Joachim said two weeks ago his truck fell off the bridge.