Works Dept to assess damage

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Monday 27th May 2013

 WORKS Department officials in Southern Highlands are in Nipa to assess the damage and fix a collapsed bridge which has cut off access to Hela and the LNG project sites.

Southern Highlands Governor William Powi said last Thursday that he had directed his provincial works coordinator to assess the damage.

He also discussed with Works Minister Francis Awesa how to get engineers to fix the bridge and allow traffic to flow again.

Powi said preliminary reports he received indicated that criminals also contributed to the damage.

Powi said the highway was the only link to Nipa station, Nipa Secondary School and people in the new province plus the LNG project.

He has also instructed the provincial police commander to investigate and arrest people who contributed to the damage.

“I have instructed my provincial works coordinator to access the damage,” Powi said.

“If it is a (traffic) weight problem as reported, then I ask the (Works engineers) and other stakeholders like ExxonMobil to fix the bridge.”