Lae road a ‘disgrace’

 By ELLEN TIAMU

A LONG-TIME resident of Lae is concerned about the deteriorating state of a stretch of road that leads to one of the city’s iconic war memorials. 

Kerry King, who lives on Memorial Avenue, near the war memorial, said in Lae yesterday the avenue that branched out from Huon Road, near the Forest Research Institute, towards the historic war memorial was in poor condition.

He said the ANZAC Day memorial and its gardens had been kept immaculate and was a historic site funded by the Australian government but described the road leading to it as an absolute disgrace.

The monument attracts visitors each year from Allied countries, especially Australia and New Zealand, who visit to pay respect to the brave soldiers who fell during World War II.

“The memories that our visitors take with them are steeped in history of our fallen soldiers, there is a real sense of warmth from the reception of the people of PNG but darkened by the atrocity that are the Lae roads,” he said.

King recounted an occasion several years ago when an elderly Papua New Guinean soldier wearing medals could not make his way to the war cemetery because his wheelchair could not be pushed through the craters on the road.

He is calling on the Department of Works and Lae Chamber of Commerce to visit the thoroughfare and facilitate restoration. 

A senior official from the Department of Works in Lae said the road was a National Works responsibility and declined to comment further.