PMV operators call on govt to fix h’way

By JAMES APA GUMUNO
THE PMV operators in the Southern Highlands called on the government to fix Imbonggu’s section of the Highlands Highway.
 They said the section of the road from Kagul Bridge, on the border of Western Highlands province, to the Walum road junction, had deteriorated.
Bus driver Philip Wake and his crew Nelson Manda said on Tuesday at Kaupena in the Imbonggu district, that the deteriorating condition of the road cost them a substantial amount of money on spare parts.
Wake and Manda, from Upper Mendi, who frequently carry passengers between Mendi and Mt Hagen, said it now took them four hours to reach Mt Hagen instead of the usual two-and-a-half-hours.
Wake said the common problem every PMV operator faced was bus springs and radiators giving up on the rough road.
He said the road deteriorated quickly because of the number of large trucks transporting heavy machinery and equipment to the liquefied natural gas project sites in Hela.
He said most of the money they made every day was spent on maintaining their fleet in order to keep them on the road.
Wake said all Mendi-based PMVs now made one return trip to Mt Hagen instead of the two they could do before.
He called on Prime Minister and Ialibu-Pangia MP Peter O’Neill and Works and Transport Minister Francis Awesa, the MP for Imbonggu, to have the road sealed.
He said the PMV operators and the people they serviced had suffered enough from the bad road conditions.
Wake said before the LNG project few heavy trucks used the road, which did not deteriorate as fast as it did now.
He said the LNG project gave them more business but the constant movement of heavy trucks into LNG sites caused the road to go from bad to worse.
He said this section of the highway was very important and led to LNG sites and oil pro­jects in the two pro­vinces.
He said he never took passengers into Tari because of the very bad condition of the road between Kiburu Road Junction and Ambua Gap, in Tari.
Wake challenged O’Neill and Awesa to jump on a bus and travel from Mt Hagen into Mendi to experience the pain the people endured daily.
Joe Kereme, a reporter with the National Broadcasting Corporation in Mendi, said a survey in the province showed that 500 trucks used the Southern Highlands and Hela sections of the road daily.