Karimui road needs K100mil, says contractor

IT will cost up to K100 million to have an all-weather gravelled road connecting the remote Karimui district in Chimbu.
An inspection and feasibility study by engineers from the Department of Works and Oasis Enterprise on the pilot track length of 33km revealed that over K100 million would be required to bring the road to a “standard” gravel road status with bridges over the major rivers.
Managing director of Oasis Enterprise Mark Zerike revealed this after Chimbu Governor Fr John Garia said in parliament that two construction companies under-taking the road building project lacked capacity.
Zerike said a project of such nature and magnitude required extensive capital. Only K10 million had been made available to Oasis to commence the project.
“Fr Garia’s claim in parliament is refuted. Judging from reports in the print media as well as radio and television broadcast, Garia seems to believe that work on this important road link is not progressing well,’’ he said.
 “I cannot speak for the other company that is working on stage one of the project. But as managing director of Oasis Enterprises Ltd, I can assure my good Governor that all works carried out so far by Oasis have been inspected by the Department of Works as the supervising agent and any payments made so far have only been made upon its proper certification.”
Oasis Enterprise was contracted to work on phase two from Karimui station towards Gumine district.
Sky Development Corporation was engaged to work on stage one from Gumine district towards Karimui.
Zerike said Fr Garia failed to appreciate that the Gumine-Karimui road project was a contract for the construction of a pilot track to access the remote areas of Karimui and parts of Gumine.
He said Garia also failed to appreciate that Oasis Enterprises had completed 70% of works as per the scoping for stage two before claiming any money for its contract.
“The funds released so far are payments for work completed to date and what is outstanding is for the mobilisation of equipment and materials to the contractor’s camp site at Appa Airstrip in Karimui and for continued construction of the road through the rugged and difficult terrains,’’ he said.
“Oasis Enterprises is currently preparing sites at Appa in Karimui to station the Chinook helicopter which will airlift equipment and materials out of Olegain in Gumine, which was recently inspected by Department of Works.”
Oasis Enterprises has cleared virgin rainforest for the 40-metre road corridor, 20-metre road formation width and four metres of actual road within the 20 metres road formation width over the 33km between Karimui station and Tua River by deploying 17,675 locals.
“If Department of Works, as the supervising agent, is satisfied with the performance of Oasis Enterprise, what criteria did the Governor use to claim a lack of capacity on the part of one or both contractors on this project?” he said.
He said such unsubstantiated claims could only be seen as a futile attempt by the Governor to tarnish the reputation of the current contractors so as to persuade the Government to re-divert the allocation of another K10million which has been earmarked for the Gumine- Karimui road in the 2012 Budget.