One of the most populated areas in the Wapenamanda electorate, in Enga Province, will be connected to the main Highlands Highway when the new Bailey bridge at Tale River is completed this month.
The 30,000 people living in Tsak valley are now enjoying a better and upgraded road network which has been impassable over the years, thus reducing travelling time to and from Wapenamanda.
Last Friday, the Ambassador for Japan, His Excellency Morio Matasumoto and his delegation, accompanied by the Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister and Member for Wapenamanda, Rimbink Pato, inspected the bridge and other project sites in the electorate.
The people from surrounding areas, including public servants, came in numbers to witness the occasion.
The Ambassador told the huge crowd that: “This bridge will not only connect the Tsak valley people to the rest of PNG but also with the people of Japan.”
Minister Pato thanked the Government of Japan for the assistance to ensure the people in his electorate enjoy what they rightfully deserve.
The bridge was funded by the Japanese Government under its Grassroots Program and according to Minister Pato, this will see more foreign aid donors fund different projects in all sectors around the country, if prudently managed.
Minister Pato announced that this bridge will be named after a local influential leader of the Yambaran tribe, Erico Kaloko
Amb Matasumoto, later in the day, officially opened the Timin Bridge, just 3 kilometres outside of Wapenamanda town. This bridge will open up a huge economic potential in agriculture for the Lower Lai people; some of the fertile land in Enga is located in this part of the district.
Both bridges cost K1.75 million and are jointly funded by the Japanese Government and the Wapenamanda District Development Authority (K250,000).
(The almost complete Tale Bridge, renamed Erico Kaloko Bridge, in Tsak Valley, Wapenamanda)