Tabubil to Teleformin road work starts

THE construction of 86km of road from Tabubil to Telefomin will connect West Sepik and Western by 2021.
The road cuts through the Hindenburg ranges and would take two years to complete with funding from the Ok Tedi Mine Ltd (OTML) tax credit scheme and the Government, and counterpart funding from the Western and Sandaun governments and the Telefomin District Development Authority.
Mirisim, who initiated the project for his people, said it would cost more than K65 million with OTML providing K15 million annually for three (K45mil), K5mil annually from the government over the same period (K15mil), K1.4mil from Sandaun, K1mil from Western and K1mil from the North Fly DDA.
“This road, when completed, will open up access for my landlocked people of Telefomin which is only accessible by air,” he said.
“The road will continue from Telefomin to Oksapmin and eventually connect to Kopiago in the Hela.”
During a visit over the weekend, Mirisim told employees of contractor Ipwenz Construction that the State and OTML had agreed to continue to fund the road project.
He said construction would start from Telefomin heading south while the other team would continue from the Tababul heading north and meet half way.
So far, 19km from Tabubil have been completed through difficult terrain and by the end of this month, the team would reach the first village of Olsobip local level government, one of the landlocked villages of Western between Tabubil and Telefomin.