By Edward Luke
The Porgera Community is urging the Enga Provincial Government, Provincial Works Department and Provincial Disaster Committees to take immediate action to open the New Mulitaka Bypass Road as promised.
The road was supposed to open on October 30th but has been postponed to a later date.
Nickson Pakea President of Porgera Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. quickly called for the new bypass road to be opened to help the Porgera people access road services.
He emphasized that Porgera was facing a catastrophic disaster due to the delay of the Mulitaka New Bypass Road.
“The Wabag-Porgera road is the only route that allows people of Porgera access to basic services. When its cut-off all our supplies stop coming in, affecting mining operations and leading to many layoffs. In the last five months, we have faced catastrophic disasters, life has become difficult and people are suffering silently,” he said.
He outlined the next steps.
“If the new bypass road must be delayed, then the temporary access road in the landslide area must open as stated in Circular 14, allowing access for light-vehicles. However, this is not sufficient to serve the people of Porgera. I appeal to all departments working on the bypass road to prioritize it and save our people,” he said.
According to Enga Provincial Works Manager Andy Amu, the initial plan to open the bypass road was delayed due to various issues on the ground, including security concerns, delayed worker payments, lack of funding, vandalism of the Tau bridge, burning of NPL trucks by locals and conflicts between landowners and Disaster Committees.
The Porgera community is now strongly urging the Enga Provincial Government to intervene and address the grievances of the affected Mulitaka clans so that the road can be opened before November 30th 2024.
