Upgrade road now, Semri

Letters, Normal

Last month, 10 fermentary owners in the remote Josephstaal area in Middle Ramu, Madang province, lost more than K18,000 due to high transportation cost when they had to transport cocoa bags to Madang town to sell their produce.
The fermentary owners in this remote area have no choice but to charter a plane to send the bags to Madang town. 
I call on local MP and Fisheries Minister Ben Semri to tell the people of Josephstaal when he will allocate much-needed funds for roads.
He promised to make K1 million available for the upgrading of the Bogia-Josephstaal road, where 75% of the road is in Bogia electorate and the funds are supposedly with the Madang tenders board.
But when I checked with the board, I was told there were no such funds except K4 million made available by the Australian government through AusAID for the maintenance of the road.
I call on the council president, leaders and Mr Semri to work together to bring basic services to the people. 
Many cocoa farmers cried last month in front of the Agmark office because all their money had gone to paying the MAF for the charter.
If the people of Josephstaal are facing much hardship, I shudder to think about the plight faced by the people of Simbai, Aiome, Annaberg, Kwang, Pasinkap and other remote spots in Middle Ramu.

 

Kevin Ganu Inamu
Port Moresby