New hope for city of potholes

 IT appears the constant rains in Lae is not the only cause of misery for road users and residents alike in the “pothole city”.

They are now being told that there has been widespread mismanagement of the multi-million kina Lae City Roads Rehabilitation and Upgrading Project.

The national Department of Works and Implementation has revealed that, since taking over the project, it has discovered “uncontrolled variations” totalling K140 million in the contracts that were awarded for upgrading roads.

“In view of widespread mismanagement of the contracts, both in design and construction, and financial aspects of the project, the present government has directed all the funding of the project to the Department of Works to manage and to execute the remaining works of the project,” the department said in a project update last Friday.

The update was made in response to ongoing comments by Morobe Governor Kelly Naru and road users about the deteriorating state of the city’s roads, and the slow progress in the rehabilitation and upgrading work. 

“Since inheriting responsibility for this road project, the Department of Works has dealt with a lot of issues, including uncontrolled variations enumerating to K140 million and poor workmanship by contractors related to major flaws and irregularities in the technical standards and contract documents.”

The revelation by the Works Department is indeed cause for grave concern and raises key issues about the management of major government projects that involve hundreds of millions of public and donor funds.

It is apparent the management and implementation of the Lae project was allowed to deteriorate just like the city roads they were supposed to fix.

The O’Neill government has done the right thing by intervening in the project. 

It has  directed all funding to the Works Department to manage and execute the remaining work.

However, it should examine those government agencies previously tasked with managing the project. They must  answer for the faults and failures reported.

Allegations of widespread mismanagement, uncontrolled variations in contract values, poor workmanship and major flaws and irregularities in technical standards and contract documents should be fully investigated and dealt with.

Bureaucrats and technocrats who were responsible for the mismanagement of the Lae roads project should face disciplinary and even criminal charges if they were involved in any illegal transactions.

Lae residents and the people of Morobe are fed up with the “pothole city” tag, which has been hanging like a bad smell around them for years.  

It portrays a rather negative image of what was formerly “The Garden City”.

As the country’s industrial hub, Lae City boasts the largest sea port in the Pacific Islands region, and will become even bigger and busier when the Lae Port Project is completed.

It is also the gateway to the populous Highlands region with the Highlands Highway being the transport artery between the port and the hinterlands.

Lae contributes a significant amount of revenue to the Government’s coffers through its business and manufacturing sectors.

Therefore, the city deserves a better deal from the national government. 

It needs better roads and hospitals as well as reliable power and water supplies.

Lae does not have the status of a city commission, like the National Capital District Commission.

As a result, city authorities are financially handicapped. 

The Lae City Council gets limited funding from the Morobe provincial government. This is not enough to cater for its plans and programmes.

Governor Naru and his provincial executive council have rejected a proposal for Lae to obtain city commission status, arguing that the province would miss out on much-needed revenue generated by their capital city.

The proposal by former Lae mayor James Khay has some merits and should be reconsidered unless the Naru government has a better alternative to drastically improve the city’s public infrastructure and amenities.

For now, Lae residents should see a marked improvement in their road project with the Works Department’s assurance that all standards and processes are now in place to deliver the project to a high standard.