Morobe discussing transport restrictions

RESTRICTIONS on public motor vehicles (PMVs) in Morobe in relation to the second wave of the Covid-19 will be made clear after a meeting next week, provincial transport chairman Martin Baffinuc says.
Baffinuc said currently, no restrictions were made which saw PMVs in Lae and the province not practicing safety measures and operating normally.
“Next week, we will look at tightening up on some areas,” he said.
“For the districts and Lae urban, we haven’t set up anything yet.”
Land Transport Board route two representative Dan Nali said in observing social distancing, the number of passengers would be lowered to 18 passengers for PMV trucks travelling to Bulolo, Wau and Menyamya.
“The Covid-19 announcement will affect PMVs but we must do our part to stop the spread of this disease,” he said.
“PMVs bring in a lot of people to and from town and if we are able to control the number of people on a PMV, we can be able to control people crowding in public places in town or the market.
“We must strictly adhere to instructions and for those disobeying, I want the police to arrest and charging the crews and drivers for not following safety rules,” he said.
“We have increased an additional K15 for Wau PMVs, K15 for Bulolo and K10 for Mumeng.”
Nali said they were currently having road checks at Markham Bridge for route two PMVs and all crews and drivers were advised to provide hand sanitisers on the PMVs and they had to make sure all passengers on board wore masks.
He said they would continue to monitor the road until the situation was back to normal.