The Government is connecting missing links in transport infrastructure throughout the country enabling service delivery into rural areas to be delivered more efficiently, says Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.
He said roads are the key to economic development in a country like ours and the Government has spent millions of kinas every year to ensure that large number of population access this vital service.
“There are many road links being built during this term of the Government and it is evident throughout the country where people can see for themselves.
“In places like the Gulf Highway and the Highway from Morobe Province into Kikori, where it is nearing completion that we will see more trade and the flow of goods and services.
“This has been lacking in past decades.
Speaking at the Consultative Implementation and Monitoring Council (CIMC) forum in Port Moresby this week, O’Neill also made it clear that Government is careful when planning and building road networks so that so that new projects benefit the vast majority of the population.
“It is pointless for me to build a four lane highway in my district in Ialibu Pangia for example, because there is no demand and it does not make any economic sense,” he said.
“People might have doubts about infrastructure spending, particularly in the larger cities, but we must invest so that we can move our country forward.
“We are focusing on locations where population growth is taking place and business activity has the potential to increase.
“That way we can make and receive maximum value of such infrastructure,” O’Neill said.