Record-keeping for roads vital for maintenance

DATA and record-keeping for all national and provincial roads, including feeder roads, in Morobe is vital for maintenance programmes, a senior official says.
Morobe Works division road supervisor Tony Eliesa said in many cases in the past, roads constructed were sometimes overlooked by new national, provincial or local level governments because there was no data available for them to consider.
“In the data, the provincial works division will identify how many roads are in a district, which are national, district and feeder roads, their lengths, type – all-weather road to pilot tracks, construction times and to identify the wet crossing areas (bridges),” he said.
Eliesa said, at the moment, in the province, sponsors and partners in building roads in the nine districts of Morobe, were not using the provincial works division effectively to keep the data for future reference.
He called on local MPs and district administrations to involve the works division in all new construction and reconstruction projects of national, provincial and feeder roads in the districts.
“When we become partners in road maintenance and construction of new roads, we will effectively make sure the data to those roads are collected.”
According to Eliesa, some roads constructed over the last five years in the province did not have any input from the provincial works division, making it hard for them to have information on them.
Eliesa said with local MPs trying to put road links in their districts, they needed to consult with the provincial works division before construction to ensure information was shared.