LNG early work to put pressure on highway

MORE than 12,000 trucks are expected to haul heavy cargo up the Highlands Highway from Lae into Hides gas project sites weekly for the next 18 months.
This is apart from the many light trucks, public motor vehicles (PMVs) and light vehicles.
“The magnitude of the traffic is set to tear the highway apart in no time and the government has yet to tell how it is going to cope with this problem,” Civil Contractors Pacific Ltd (Civpac) general manager Dickson Tasi said.
He spoke on private sector perspective on transport infrastructure in the region at the Highlands Consultative Implementation Monitoring Council (CIMC) forum in Goroka, Eastern Highlands.
Describing the state of the Highlands Highway as a nightmare which had deteriorated over the years, he said the cost of transportation on the highway had also increased.
Tasi said constant hold-ups, looting of cargo, compensation demands and roadblocks had burdened businessmen.
“It is bad for investors and terrible for economic development in the highlands. The sad part is, the people will suffer,” he said.
Tasi said the huge freighting of cargo into the LNG sites in Hela would add to the highway’s woes.
However, he said the LNG developer had been flying equipment into Tari over the past two months and “this eased the load on the highway”.
He also said the highway had “deteriorated” and it was going to cost a lot of money to get it rehabilitated, adding that maintenance to the highway should not be overlooked.
Tasi said the people of the highlands and private sector would feel the effects of increased prices of goods and services, adding that at some stage, the highway, the highlands’ life line, would be cut off.