Water all around but little to drink

The National Weekender
COVER STORY
Residents of an island created by the Sirinumu Dam which supplies water and generates power for Port Moresby struggle to get safe drinking water in adequate supply

HAVE visitors travelling up to the Sogeri plateau ever wondered where that dirt road turning off beside the Iarowari Secondary School leads to?
This road leads to one of the historic sites among the many that can be visited in the plateau.
One cool place to visit is the Crystal Rapids picnic and outing area beside Laloki River. It is a good spot for picnics and barbeques and fresh water swimming. Sogeri is also home to the country’s first national high school built in 1944 and the Koitaki Farm which supplies beef to most supermarkets in the city.
The Iarowari Secondary School as known today is also an historic institution built in the 1940s as the “school of signals” to train Australian and American soldiers to become radiomen during World War II. It also trained policemen, hence was the site where British Papua Constabulary and the German New Guinea Police Force merged to become the present Royal Papua New Guinea constabulary (RPNGC).
Later in 1962 it became an all-boys high school enrolling and educating young boys from the Southern region. So as simple as it is today, Iarowari is a significant part of PNG history dating back to World war II.
To the north-east of Iarowari is another historic location the Owers’ Corner, which marks the end of the Kokoda Trail in Central Province. During World War II Australian and other soldiers successfully defended the track against an attempted invasion of Port Moresby by the Japanese army. So visiting Sogeri is worthwhile and an opportunity to connect with those historic institutions.
We leave Sogeri and head south to another historic location. The landscape south of Sogeri towards Sirinumu is just breathtaking with rolling windswept hills and panoramic views of the country side. The captivating view at certain vintage points spreads across the Koitaki farm and further towards Owers’ Corner.
Tucked away in one part of the plateau at the foothills of the Owen Stanley Range is the Wakai community. The people who make up the Wakai community are custodians of the land on which the Sirinumu Dam, another historic infrastructure, was built on.
Sirinumu is the largest impoundment on the Laloki River. It covers an area of 156 square kilometres of land given away by forefathers of the Wakai community to the Australian colonial administration for this reservoir with a capacity of 354 million cubic metres to be built in 1962 to secure a source of water and hydroelectricity generation for Port Moresby. The water enjoyed by residents in Port Moresby city for over decades comes from the Sirinumu Dam piped 40km downstream to Rouna and further to the city.

Family members going to the island.

Building Dirinumu Dam
Sirinumu Dam was officially opened by Sir Robert Menzies, the 12th Prime Minister of Australia on Sept 7, 1963. Design and construction supervision of the work on the dam was done by the Commonwealth Department of Works and the contractors then were Hornibrook Kaiser Joint Venture Port Moresby.
The opening of Sirinumu dam is featured in a book titled ‘The Prime Minister in Papua and New Guinea’ written by Sir Robert Menzies. This book is available at the State library of NSW and can be requested online.
Among those who officiated at the opening was Donald Cleland the then administrator of Papua and New Guinea. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Sir Donald Cleland continued to live in Port Moresby upon retirement. He was the only administrator who chose to stay back. He later became pro-chancellor and chancellor (from 1971) of the University of Papua New Guinea, and chancellor (from 1967) of the Anglican Diocese of Papua New Guinea.
Sir Donald died on Aug 27, 1975 in Port Moresby and was accorded a state funeral and buried in the cemetery at Bomana.
So close yet so far
For the Wakai community in Ward 17 of the Koiari Local Level Government (LLG) in the Hiri district of Central the phrase ‘so close yet so far away’ resonates well with their lived experience. While Sirinumu and the Wakai community are a short drive from Port Moresby the transport and infrastructure difficulties faced by the voting population of almost 3,000 people for 59 years are challenging.
Presently the dam floods the surrounding land covering an area of 156 square kilometres of their hunting and gardening land. This land was also a source of clean drinking water but that changed together with their life style when the dam was built.
People adapted to the environment created for them. Their everyday mode of transport to obtain basic goods and services and gardening has been either by paddling a dug out or hiring or riding one of the many banana boats that traverse the mighty dam. A boat ride from Kouaro Island, the biggest in the dam to the outlet is K4 per head and K2 per market produce bag. And the PMV ride to the city is K8 one way.
There is no road that connects the community to the road that ends at the dam. The only means of of going to and from is by walking, paddling or getting a costly 45-minute boat ride from the dam outlet to their respective villages. It is a costly exercise undertaken almost every day by community members especially school children and farmers trying to get garden produce to markets in the city.

Volunteers making presentations to the island community recently.

Water for water (W4W) partnership
After 59 years the Wakai community on Kouaro Island was visited by three organisations, the DWU Alumni Port Moresby Chapter, the Lasalian Alumni Association and the National Maritime Safety Authority (NMSA). It was noted that the only service available to the Wakai community is the Sirinumu Primary School; the aid post had long closed in the late 1980s.
Considering the hardships and their generosity for the dam the three organisations through the partnership have initiated a fresh drinking water project, something the community in the Sirinumu catchment area have not had since 1963.
To kick start this an outing dubbed the ‘Easter market’ at Hanua Bungalows on Kouaro Island was initiated and the first trip was taken by members and families of the three organisations and donations in cash and kind were made.
An initial funding of K12,000 was presented to the community on Kouaro and additional funds will be raised to deliver a clean drinking water project for the community.
All funds donated will be kept in a bank account. The aim of the associations coming together is to deliver clean drinking water to the community and make the partnership the hallmark of teaching minds, touching hearts and transforming lives in rural communities.

  • Henry Yamo is the Deputy Executive Officer of the Consultative Implementation and Monitoring Council (CIMC).