Road project to solve transport problems

 A ROAD project near Tidom Hill in Nipa-Kutubu, Southern Highlands will solve transport problems for more than 25,000 people in the area.

The new Kongu-Erap road will serve as an access link for trucks and other vehicles who have been victims of harassment and looting at Tidom Hill.

Portiland Construction Ltd has already started work on the road.

Southern Highlands Governor William Powi allocated K1 million for the new road under the 2013 revised budget. 

It will link people living at the border of Imbonggu and Nipa-Kutubu electorates.

The ground-breaking ceremony was officiated by Pr Timothy Map of the Karr Christian Union church, witnessed by provincial government officials and locals.

A former councillor, Vincent Mou, said since Independence, the people had lived a hard life and faced difficulty in accessing the outside world.

“Women wanting to go to the markets to sell their produce use embers in the dark to guide their way to the main road where they will catch PMVs. But this is over now,” he said.

“All we have dreamt about was to have a road to connect our villages so that we could have access to market our produce and carry goods to our villages after buying them in Mendi.”

Provincial agriculture adviser Kenneth Kuim Toap said it was a rich agricultural area and the road would promote agriculture and other income-generating activities.