David Wereh

In a media statement, the Secretary clarified that by virtue of the Marape administration’s Determination of Titles and Ministerial Responsibilities, published in the Gazette (No. G690) of August 31, 2022, the Minister for Works and Highways is responsible for all matters covered under the Road (Management and Fund) Act 2020, acting through the Department of Works & Highways.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, a landslide occurred at Gon Village in Simbu, and completely cut off the Highlands Highway.

The Department of Works and the contractors working along that section quickly responded and had it cleared within 24 hours, to allow the flow of traffic.

Works Secretary David Wereh thanked the contractors to fix the problem – something that could have taken days to fix.

Wereh attributed the quick response to the emergency, to the government's adoption of the long term program based contracting arrangements on the Highlands Highway.

Bane River burst its banks and caused severe damage and washout and of the Bane Bridge in Kainantu, EHP.

Works Secretary, David Wereh, says traffic along the highway has come to a halt following the washout.

“Department of Works is mobilising resources on-site to construct a temporary bypass that will restore the normal flow of traffic.

“The public is informed that the temporary bypass access is expected to be restored within 48 hours maximum.

Contracts for the bridge construction were signed today between Works and Implementation Secretary David Wereh and the three different contractors.

The six bridges along the Ramu Highway will be done up by Covec PNG at a cost of K88,124,944.14.

Contract for three bridges along the Sepik Highway were also awarded to Covec PNG at K31,909,251.16.

Both bridge contract works will be supervised by an Engineering Consultant firm, a member of the Surbana Jurong group SMEC International, at K13,389,212.17.

The signing of the contract took place in Port Moresby today between Works and Implementation Secretary David Wereh and Managing Director of Ipwenz Ltd, Moses Palipe.

At a total cost of K29,372,191.50, the road project is funded under the ExxonMobil Tax Credit Scheme, which is from Tari to Ambua, a total of 20 kilometers of road.

This is the third of such projects funded under ExxonMobil’s TCS, out from a total of K150 million for various sections of the highlands highway.

The project covers the road from Kreer Junction to Maprik.

The project includes essential maintenance works such as drainage clearing, culvert replacement, pavement repairs, pothole patching, and resealing. Australia is also funding the supervision of this project.

Department of Works Secretary, David Wereh, sees this project as an important step towards delivering safer, more reliable roads for PNG.

“The Department is putting maintenance first to ensure that our national priority roads are maintained to continue to connect businesses and communities,” he said.

Minister Michael Nali today led a delegation from the Works Department for an inspection on the bridges along the highway.

He commended the contractor, China Harbour Engineering Construction, for a job well done.

The Minister inspected the Laloki and Brown River bridges. However, they were unable to have a look at the Angabanga Bridge because of time limitation.

The three bridges, along with the other three along the Magi Highway, cost a total of US$100 million.

On Tuesday Governor-General, Dadae executed on behalf of the state for work to begin on a new court complex , a provincial headquarters, and maintenance road works in the Highlands Region.

The new court complex will be built in Wewak, East Sepik Province. Valued at K16.7 million and was awarded to Gold Bell Constructions. The State is fully funding this project

The construction of the West New Britain Haus valued at K95.8 million was awarded to Pheonix Builders and funded through the New Britain Palm Oil Trust Fund.

The damage section is at Guo which is few kilometres outside of Kundiawa provincial capital.

This is the same section of the highway in Simbu Province which was damaged by landslide in January.

 At the moment a temporary bypass has been created by the Chimbu-based Kaiaworks Construction under the supervision of the Works Department.

Wereh did not reveal the amount paid to the contractor for maintenance of the highway.

This followed the signing of the K134. 8 million contract in Port Moresby today, by the Independent State of Papua New Guinea and contractor – China Railway International (CRI) to do road works from Wau – Bulolo Junction to Yalu Bridge in Morobe Province.

Department of Works Secretary David Wereh said the road works will start after the preliminary meeting between the contractor and DOW.     

 “What we are signing is an ongoing program, (of the) 5 year program to deliver the Lae to Nadzab road.