Roads serve a vital purpose in any community, having road access enables people in rural Papua New Guinea to reach basic services.
Despite being an important aspect for economy boost and development, road access remains a challenge for the 28,000 plus people of the Aroma Coast LLG in the Abau District of Central Province whose road access has been cut off for 2 weeks due to continuous rain and floods.
The floods have damaged bridges and culverts along the road and the heavy rains have not shown any signs of backing down. In the last week, the rain has completely isolated villages between Paramana and Kelerakwa villages on the Aroma Coast and the communities on the corridors of the road from Rigo, covering Kore, Mamalo, Mole, Ganimarupu, Keapara, Alukuni and Karawa villages to any road access.
The road running through Rigo District from Launakalana turn off from the Magi Highway to Aroma became impassable when flooding started on Wednesday May 24.
Uali Makara a PMV Operator and a concerned citizen is calling on local leaders to intervene and immediately address the issue.
He said, “food is now in shortage as gardens are flooded and trade stores not being able to transport basic goods. Health and Education services have also been severely impacted and it is of grave concern now. PMV Operations have come to a complete halt with the highway becoming impassable.”
He added that there should be an immediate and permanent solution to try to drain the roads, repair the washed away culverts and bridges, and restore the road connection for these villages.
