Locals decide to stop waiting for govt, clean road

By ELIAS LARI
A group of people from Imbonggu, Southern Highlands, have decided to clean and maintain a kilometre of road leading to their village instead of waiting on the Government to do it for them.
These people live along the Poragai Tealands feeder road, and, after seeing that the road network was poor, decided to do their part to clean and maintain it.
The office of local MP Pila Niningi and the provincial government stepped in some time ago to help with maintenance, but, recently, nothing had been done, causing the villagers to struggle.
Team leader Joe Korowi said they felt responsible because if they waited on the Government, they would miss out.
He said more than 4,000 people depended on the road, as did the Komoli health centre, Komoli Primary School and several elementary schools.
Korowi said it was one of the first roads in the province leading to Poragai and Kagual tea plantations.
The road helped the province in terms of revenue collection and job creation opportunities in the past through the tea projects, but authorities have turned a blind eye to it, he said.
Korowi said because no one had taken it into consideration, people decided to play their part instead of waiting.
“Locals can now use the road to transport their garden foods to the market while vehicles can have the access to travel into the village,” he said.
He said in some communities, people became lazy and depended on their leaders for help.
“People have to take the initative to help themselves instead of waiting.”