O’Neill launches four-lane road in Lae

 By CLEMENT KAUPA

THE much-anticipated Lae to Nadzab four-lane road project was launched last week by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill in Lae, with work expected to start in September.

It will cost K400 million and marks the first phase of a rehabilitation programme for the Highlands Highway, O’Neill told a capacity crowd at Niall Oval, Eriku, in Lae.

“Consecutive governments have talked about it for 40 years but nothing constructive has ever been done until now,” he said.

But he said work could not start immediately because there were no designs and engineering work plans to go by.

“We have to start from the ground up,” O’Neill said.

Chinese company China Railway International Ltd is the contractor of the project.

“A lot of funding for the much needed Highlands Highway rehabilitation project will come from the Exxim Bank of China and I thank them for the favourable loan conditions they have offered us,” O’Neill said.