Works starts to fix damaged section of road

By LUKE KAMA
THE Works Department is repairing a damaged section of the highway from Ramu to Madang which was washed away during heavy rain on Tuesday night.
Works Secretary David Wereh told The National yesterday that the damaged section of the highway was at Dumpu.
The section got washed out last night (Tuesday),” he said.
“Our team is on the ground working to restore traffic access as soon as possible.”
Wereh said road infrastructure in parts of the country were old and easily damaged when natural disasters struck.
Last week, culverts along the Highlands Highway in Goroka were damaged by floodwaters.
“Our road infrastructure is aging and exposed to damage from natural disasters and heavy rain,” he said.
“Our Government is modernising the outdated road network to create a weather-resilient road transport system. Examples include the eight bridges built in Oro, a flood-prone province.”
He said in the meantime, the Department of Works was arranging long-term contract arrangements on the main roads to quickly respond to emergencies.
“We have a minimum of 24 hours response time to emergencies. Our team is on the Madang-Ramu highway already attending to it,” Wereh said.