Locals fix road with spades, picks

 TIRED of waiting for the government to fix their road, a community in Chimbu decided it was time for action.

Instead of collecting signatures for a petition and protest, the villagers gathered tools available in the community – spades, forks, picks, crowbars and bush knives – and got to work.

The Kubukaware One villagers of Ward Four in West Elimbari, Chuave, Chimbu, woke up early last Thursday to start work on their access road.

Ward councillor Tax Teimai Kibu said the road was in “a very poor condition over the last 25 years”.

“Our people carry their cargo like camels and walk to Gogo Junction to catch PMVs,” Kibu said. “The road is in a very bad shape.” 

Kibu said he heard on many occasions that funds were being allocated by the district for the upgrading of the road but he did not know where the money went.

“After waiting in vain for the Government to fix our feeder road for more than 20 years, we decided that we will fix it ourselves,” Kibu said.

The 30km Wara-Bago to Wiri road runs through Kubukaware.

It stretches through Waure, Banana Block, Kikobu, Wagai, Banigo, Bomai and Wiri villages.

Kibu said the people of Karamui-Salt Nomane district took a short-cut via the Waghi River to Elimbari and later to the Chuave Station to catch PMV. More than 5000 people have access to this road, Kibu said.

He said the road was “very important” to his people because they had coffee plots and garden crops to transport to markets.

“We are now growing onions and we needed a good road to have them transported to Kundiawa and Goroka.”

Teachers from the Kabukaware Primary School and the Waure and Banigo Elementary schools carry their supplies to school because of poor roads. 

Kibu called on authorities to investigate construction companies who had been awarded contracts to fix the Wara-Bago-Wiri Road.