Trucks blocks LNG road

By JAMES APA GUMUNO
THE road to the multi-billion kina liquefied natural gas project was blocked last Saturday after a truck broke down.
The incident which happened in Nipa district, Southern Highlands, involved a truck owned by Mapai Transport.
Traffic came to a standstill after a truck carrying a grader and goods for the project broke down in the middle of a deteriorating section of the road at Teta Hill.
Other trucks transporting goods to Kutubu and LNG project sites in the new Hela province were stranded in Mendi town.
Those returning from Hela and Kutubu were stranded at Lai Bridge.
Nipa district administrator Robin Pip said from the site on Monday no attempt had been made to remove the truck.
Pip said locals built a small by-pass road for vehicles with four- wheel drive and charged between K250 and K300 per vehicle to use it.
He said PMV buses and light trucks dropped their passengers at the sites and passengers then had to catch another PMV to continue their journey into Mendi, Kutubu or Hela.
He said this was not the first time big trucks had broken down on the deteriorating section of the road.
Pip said every week more than three trucks engaged in the LNG project broke down on the Nipa section.
He said many trucks broke down at Megi Hill, Tindomin, Teta, Kopa and Nipa station.
He said he felt sorry for trucking companies and vehicle owners in Nipa-Kutubu and Hela struggling to provide services to the people and transporting heavy machinery to the project sites.
He said on Feb 12, two trucks owned by Trans Wonderland broke down at Kopa village in the Poroma local level government council area, and resulted in the roads being closed for two days.
“I, as a concerned citizen from the district, want the national government to immediately look into the deteriorating section of the road, starting from Kiburu road junction to Nipa then to Ambua,” he said.
Pip said the Southern Highlands and Hela generated a lot of revenue for the country and that section of the road must be a priority for the government.
He said if nothing was done about the road, trucking companies and locals using the road every day would continue to suffer.