Kokopo-Rabaul road ‘terrible’

THE Kokopo-Rabaul Road is in a “terrible” condition and needs to be fixed immediately, says East New Britain Chamber of Commerce and Industry president David Stein.
Stein, whose office represents the interests of business houses and investors in the province, said businesses relied heavily on the road to import and export their cargo from the main wharf in Rabaul.
Stein said parts of the 30km road in places like Raluana, Vulcan and Raburua were riddled with potholes and had sediment build-up caused by erosion.
Stein said the poor state of the road was affecting businesses that had to dig deeper into their pockets to fix their vehicles and it also affected their turn-around time.
“The Kokopo-Rabaul Road is in a terrible condition,” Stein said.
“It is a priority road that needs to be fixed as soon as possible.”
“The last time this road was upgraded was 15 years ago when it was funded by AusAID.”
Stein said he had met with John Sitapai, the regional Works manager for New Guinea Islands and Douglas Wera, the provincial Works manager, regarding the road and they had advised him to formally apply for a change of scope of work.
Stein said the Kokopo-Rabaul Road came directly under the care of the national government but it was overlooking it and focusing more on national highways.
“The government’s focus now is on the New Britain Highway,” he said.
“But we in East New Britain want the Kokopo-Rabaul Road and other priority roads in the province to be fixed before we talk about the New Britain Highway.”
Stein said with limited funding allocated for road rehabilitation, it was important to prioritize roads so that only important roads were funded and maintained regularly.