LLG president says Madang’s Bogia district in the dark

BOGIA district headquarters is in the “dark ages” with vital services not functioning for the past decade, Yawar ward 15 president Steven Yugasa said.
He described the district yesterday as something out of a setting in the colonial era.
Yugasa said the MP John Hickey, the  LLG  and public servants were all working in isolation and “creating confusion and leaving the district similar to an outstation”.
“There is no power to the district. How can the public servants there who have the heart to work do anything if there is no power?” he said.
“The post-independence generators sitting there have all rusted and are beyond repair.
“The lack of electricity has hampered banking and postal services; caused hospitals to work with personal solar lamps at night to check on patients; caused the lone banker to use her own resources to buy flex cards to ring town to check on customers balances before making paper withdrawals; caused schools to lag behind with work that can be duplicated on machines and slowed paper work at the police stations.”
Augustine Morombo, who accompanied Yagusa to Madang, said the only water supply to the station posed a serious risk as it was in an unfenced location and was accessible to passers-by.
“The pond that supplies the station is not treated and has not been checked by the Water PNG as far as I can recall. It is not in a catchment or tank and has water lilies growing in it coupled with dead leaves from trees. We still drink and wash from this source,” he said.
Yagusa said there were no proper toilets for public servants whose homes needed major renovations and repair, no toilets for the health centre, forcing patients to use the beach front and bushes; and no new vehicles for project officers to check villages.
The duo, from Mekarup village, said cash crops like cocoa and copra were rotting away.
“When will the MP give services to Bogia?
“Roads are riddled with potholes and people are in the dark,” Yagusa said.