Connecting the Trans Island Highway is the key target in the Connect PNG 22 Workplan. The government has approved K7.98 billion worth of projects for the phase 1 of the program period of 2020-2027.
“Our first priority is to fix the priority regional highways and build the missing links connecting the Momase and the Highlands regions, to the Southern Region,” explained Secretary for Works & Highways David Wereh, during the launch of the Connect PNG 2022 Workplan.
He said up to 2021, the government had K4.3 billion worth of investment for 323 contracts under construction, to deliver 5,388km of roads in good condition by 2025. Forty five per cent of these ongoing works was taken on from the previous program of 2012-2018 and have been completed. The rest, almost K2.36b, progresses into 2022 to be delivered by 2025.
“In total, there are K3b worth of contracts running in 2022,” said Secretary Wereh.
The government aims to connect 16,200km of roads by 2050.
Connect PNG 2020-2040 program is a 20-year economic road development plan at approximately K1billion per year to rehabilitate and reconstruct deteriorated sections of existing highways and construct missing link roads. It is the flagship infrastructure program for the government.
In his presentation Secretary Wereh outlined that our socio-economic growth benefits have declined overtime because of a lack of proper road access. For sectors like agriculture, productivity mostly remains at subsistence level.
Secretary Wereh pointed out that Connect PNG intends to correct road maintenance issues. One vital point he made is the underinvestment and mismanagement in road maintenance programs over the years.
“This has accumulated a road maintenance backlog of K45 billion,” he revealed. K30billion for national roads, K14billion for Sub-national roads and K1 billion for gross replacement of over 100 bridges.
Connect PNG will be implemented in three phases to progressively open up the country and open up opportunities to economic development, and increase Papua New Guinea’s potential to become a middle-income country.