Upgrade of bridge gets funding

 PEOPLE living in the eastern part of Southern Highlands have a reason to smile after much needed additional funding for a bridge in their area was given on Christmas Day.

Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru committed K50,000 for maintenance work on the Yalo River Bridge last week.

This brings to K200,000 the total amount of money approved for upgrading  work on the bridge which serves a vast population of the province living in the Ialibu, Pangia, Kagua-Erave and Imbonggu districts.

Earlier this year, K150,000 had also been approved by Agiru and had been used to carry out work on the bridge after it collapsed early this year, while the additional funding would improve it.

Ialibu community leader from Kendagl and Tangiki Yamum Ropapu Association chairman Samuel Kondoa, thanked Agiru for the additional funding, adding that it would be a major boost to the lives of the people.

Kondoa praised the governor and urged the Works Department in the province to speed up the work as it had been long delayed.

He blamed the delay on the alleged “stagnant delivery of services by concerned senior public servants at the provincial and district levels”.

Kondoa claimed that district funds had nothing to show even though people were affected after the bridge collapsed, but with the recent funding by the governor, the people were set to benefit greatly.

He appealed to Ialibu Pangia MP Peter O’Neill, Kagua Erave MP James Lagea, and Imbonggu MP Francis Awesa, to play their part as the bridge served the entire eastern part of the province, including their electorates.