Madang govt to upgrade roads

The Madang provincial government will upgrade a road network in the remote area where the Yandera and Ramu nickel mines are located in the province.
The only access into Yandera is by helicopter. The North to South road connects the two mines, but it is in disrepair and not used.
Madang Governor Sir Arnold Amet committed on Wednesday to start work on the road after technical assessment from engineers was done by MCC and the provincial works office.
MCC was willing to lend engineers and help fund the work, officials told Sir Arnold on Wednesday.
Mine site manager Deng Hengbo, whilst outlining some social and work-related issues with landowners to the governor, said that opening up the South road would alleviate some of their problems.
“At the moment, there seems to be an influx of settlements in the special mining lease (SML) area and we want to be able to use mine access road without unwanted traffic.
“We will therefore assist with opening up the South road as we want to resettle people there,” he said.
Provincial Works technical adviser, Komang Komolong and his team have been tasked to evaluate costings for the road as well as the collapsed Usema bridge connecting the Banu to Brahman road.
About K400,000 from the appropriated K1 million earmarked as provincial transport infrastructure grant for roads has already been given with a total of K500,000 yet to be released by Department of Finance and Treasury.