Railway the answer to the country’s transportation issues

Letters

WHAT PNG needs is a network of railway system connecting the mainland provinces.
The railway system will enable delivery of goods and services in a much effective and efficient manner.
It will be costly initially but getting loans from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to upgrade the Highlands Highway almost every five years is not sustainable.
Successive governments since independence have taken out
loans to upgrade the Highlands Highway since it is the lifeline of the country.
We are heading to the 10th parliament and definitely a new government will take out another
loan, tying us and our future generations to debts beyond our imagination.
The Highlands Highway currently is nothing but a sinkhole where much needed revenue can be diverted to other areas if we have an effective railway system.
The question that begs us as we go into another election cycle is under whose government and leadership will we see such major development?
And which Prime Minister will sanction a network of railway system?
There is this argument that PNG’s geographical structure is not stable and we cannot achieve the proposed engineering feat.
Just take a look at Japan, which sits on the Pacific ring of fire and experiences more earth quakes in a year compared to PNG.
Many devastating earthquakes have recently but Japan still has one of the most advanced railway systems in the world.
The issues of landslides in the Highlands can be avoided by having large concrete pylons for bridges inserted deep into the bedrock thousands of meters below the surface for support for a suspended railway above unstable land
This will solve a lot of our current development issues, our airline industry can only carry as much as they can in transportation of goods to and from provinces.
A railway system will enable a fresh produce from Western Highlands to reach Port Moresby hours after harvest to meet the demand and drive prices of organically grown crops down making it affordable for families to help sustain their livelihood and more importantly maintain a healthy diet to live a longer, this will solve a lot of our health issues.
A railway system will be the catalyst to economic growth and development by giving life to our industries because of the easy access to markets and transportation of goods in large volumes.
If we are to take advantage of agriculture and venture into commercial farming, we need an effective and efficient transportation system.
We can be feeding the Asia Pacific markets 10 years from now with our organically grown crops if we have a railway system.

Jacob Manase, Via email