Minister for Works and Highways, Solan Mirisim told Parliament that he will present a list of roads under the national government’s flagship program, Connect PNG in the next session.
The list will introduce roads previously not under the program. By doing this, the national government will truly be taking the Connect PNG program nationwide by including roads in all 22 provinces.
The Minister was responding to questions posed by the member for North Fly James Donald. Donald was querying the actual monetary value of the Connect PNG program and the funding source of the Tabubil-Telefomin road, claiming that funds from the Ok Tedi Mining Limited Tax Credit Scheme were used in building the Tabubil Telefomin highway.
Governor of National Capital District Powes Parkop, in a supplementary question also sought answers from the minister on his list of prioritized roads.
Minister Mirisim says on roads and major projects undertaken by Ok Tedi under the Tax Credit Scheme, an update cannot come from him as all affairs relating to those projects are entirely undertaken by the company on approval from the Department of National Planning and Monitoring.
The program’s long-term goal is to achieve 100 per cent road connectivity for Papua New Guinea by 2040. More than 16,000km of road will be worked on over three phases under the 20-year program, with an estimated cost of K10 billion.