Works department to fix 12 bridges in Madang

By DOROTHY MARK
Department of Works and Implementation will be repairing 12 bridges along the Ramu Highway between Madang and Morobe with the help of the Chinese Exim Bank.
Works Secretary David Wereh said most of the bridges needed maintenance or replacement.
Usino leader John Koti said most of the bridges were built many years ago and had rusted and their foundations had eroded.
Koti said people often need the help of locals to cross rivers.
Wereh said sealing of the Bogia-Awar Road would be put out on tender in August with funding assistance from the Asian Development Bank.
He said his department would prioritise maintenance and the upgrading of existing roads.
“We won’t talk about missing links until we fix all existing roads first,” Wereh said.
Madang Governor Peter Yama welcomed those developmental plans, including planned work on town roads, as a catalyst for more investments in the province.
He said roads were important, especially with the rapidly increasing population and traffic.
Yama said the Hyundai Slipway at Alexishafen outside Madang and new power plant near Garim and Pacific Marine Industrial Zone were just a few of the many projects that would transform Madang.
He said that the ship mv Godowan would be launched this week and that would help take copra from Karkar, Bagbag and Long islands to Madang.
“We will go to their doorsteps and pay for copra, and bring it to town,” Yama said.