MP lays plans for h’ways

 By JEFFREY ELAPA

THE Government will make funds available to connect Lumi to Aitape and eventually connect the inland Sepik Highway to Vanimo, Works Minister Francis Awesa said.

Awesa was replying to questions in Parliament from Nuku MP Joe Sunki. 

Sunki said there were two major highways in the Sepik provinces –  the inland Sepik highway and the coastal Sepik highway – both connecting to Wewak. 

However, he said there was no road link between Lumi and Aitape.

Sunki said there were plans to connect the Lumi-Aitape Road (the Maitazi Road) so that people could travel to Vanimo rather than coming back to Wewak to travel on the highway to Vanimo.

He urged the government to declare the road a national highway so that it would be possible for them to  access funding through AusAid.

Awesa said the Government would make available funding for the road in the 2014 budget.

Awesa said a lot of funds had been allocated for roads in East Sepik but had not been used for its intended purposes.

“A lot of money has been wasted in East Sepik like the K57.7 million funding for the Angoram Road,” he said.

However, East Sepik Governor Sir Michael Somare interjected and said the funds were safe and parked in a trust account.

He said the problem was with the provincial administrator who was not allowing the funds to be accessed for the project.