The Chamber of Commerce in Goroka have raised concerns over the construction of the temporary runway built at the Goroka airport, Eastern Highland Province.
President Sarah Shelley in a statement said a temporary runway was built under National Airport Corporation specifications but did not understand why the planes have stopped and will be stopping the services to Goroka.
“Yesterday (Sunday) it was reported that PNG Air had cancelled their services to Goroka because of the state of the temporary runway.
“Today (Monday) it is reported that Air Niugini will be stopping their flights into Goroka over the weekend for the same reason.
“A temporary runway was put in place, for all planes, as part of the upgrade of the Goroka airport and this was done to the specifications of the NAC and Covac, the company who won the tender to do the upgrade, carried out the work,” she said.
She said questions have to be asked about this temporary runway.
“Did the NAC give specifications for the job that were of a higher enough standard to take the traffic on the temporary runway?
“Did the contractor’s work meet the specifications?
“Is it the work that the contractor did that is causing the problems that have stopped the major airlines from landing, or do the problems relate to the part of the runway that was there previously?
“Did qualified inspectors and engineers inspect the work of the contractors?
“Are the inspectors and engineers independent of the contractor and NAC?” Ms Shelley asked.
She added that this situation means that the public must ask questions about the work being done on the new runway.
“It is interesting to note that the source of the gravel being used is suspected of not being to road or runway standard.
“Who is testing this gravel to ensure that it meets the necessary standards? Can we be sure that test results to date, can be relied on?”
She said the travelling public has the right to know if the temporary runway is safe as the lives of passengers and airline staff should be paramount.
“Sub-standard work by NAC, the contractors or the inspectors/engineers is just not acceptable.”
Picture caption: Goroka airport terminal