MP: State needs to fix road

Normal, Papua
Source:

The National, Monday July 6th, 2015

 KAIRUKU-Hiri MP Peter Isoaimo says the deteriorating national road in the Mekeo area is the responsibility of the Government to fix.

He was responding to people from the area who resorted to social media and newspapers to vent their complaints about the poor state of the road. Some said Isoaimo should get the road fixed quickly and not give the excuse that Kairuku-Hiri was too big for his DSIP funding.

Isoaimo said the road from Inaui to Veifa’a and the old Kerema Highway that ran through Hisiu, Delena, Poukama, Bereina, Waima and Kivori were national roads that should have been fixed long ago.

He said he had found out from the Finance Department that a contractor engaged by the previous district authority had walked away with K4.5 million of the K7.5 million budgeted by the Government for the Works Department to upgrade those roads.

When speaking to the people of Waima and Kivori at Kivori-Kui village on Sunday during a peace negotiation meeting, Isoaimo said he would try his best to source counter-funding of K4 million elsewhere to pay for the repairs and upgrading of the roads.

He admitted that public infrastructure in the district had deteriorated for many years and he felt sorry for the people. However, he said the K10 million DSIP fund was not enough to fix many problems at the same time.

“As leader, several times I spoke on behalf of my people about this road in Mekeo in Parliament but received no answers. Kairuku-Hiri is a vast electorate,” Isoaimo said.