The Rural Airstrip Agency (RAA) is maintaining and upgrading rural airstrips across the country.
The restoration program is conducted on the airstrips that were closed due to land erosion, vegetation overgrowth or flooding.
After identifying and prioritising of the airstrips that needed restoration, an initial survey on the airstrip was conducted to determine the scope of work and what equipment was needed.
There are almost 500 closed airstrips around Papua New Guinea.
Many of these airstrips are in areas of relatively large communities with existing government and church presence.
By restoring closed airstrips, RAA is able to have an active role in significantly improving the standard of living for isolated communities throughout PNG by facilitating the connectivity of those communities to government, economic and development services.
After restoration is completed, the airstrip is recommissioned and added to the RAA maintenance program.
The average cost of restoring an airstrip is between K250,000 and K400,000.