by Bridgette Komatep – EM TV, Port Moresby
Works Minister, Francis Awesa, has called on Members of Parliament to engage the services of his department when it comes to road and civil works construction.
He said engaging the government’s civil works contractor saves millions of kina, compared to a private contractor.
He made these remarks at the presentation of counterpart funding between the government and a district in Simbu Province.
With the counterpart funding of K2 million, for the access road and bridge, it will benefit over 60,000 people of Nomane LLG.
Minister Awesa was critical about government funds being wasted on private contractors to fix public roads and bridges. He said when it comes to cost cutting, Members of Parliament must consider engaging the Works department.
Karamui-Nomane district, in Simbu province, is one of the few districts in the country that has engaged the Works department to construct a bridge and access road.
Karamui-Nomane district has the potential to grow coffee and other agricultural produce however, no proper roads has been a problem for the people for over 30 years.
However, some good news for the people as the Member for Karamui-Nomane, Mogerema Wei, moves to improve roads and bridges in the area.
Nomane LLG Community leader, Robert Haba, spoke about the hardships faced by his people. Many had to walk for hours to access services in the provincial capital of Kundiawa. When the access road is constructed, it will cut down travelling time to three hours.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=gLRDPil3N4Y%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
