Lae roads cost K200 million for just 20km

By MALUM NALU

A Department of Works (DoW) report into rehabilitation and upgrading of Lae city roads shows almost K200 million has been spent on just 20km of roads, some of which are incomplete and have already started falling apart, from 2009-2012.

In Stage 1 alone, more than K24 million was spent on a little over 4km of roads, while in Stage 2 more than K104 million was spent on a little over 15km of roads.

The rehabilitation and upgrading of Lae City Roads - Stage 1 commenced around 2009.

The DoW was involved in the supervision of the following projects through their provincial establishment in Morobe province:

·         A 1.496km section of Huon Road junction between Milford Haven /Huon Road junction to Huon Road/7th Street junction for K9, 118, 558.87.This project was undertaken by Dekenai Constructions Ltd. This project was physically and financially completed. This project involved reconstructing the road from the sub-base layer to surfacing with double seal coat with asphalt surface finish;

·         A 1.466km section of Huon Road between 7th Street/Huon Road to Huon Road/Markham Road junction for K10, 279, 659.16.This project was undertaken by East – West 1 Ltd and completed both physically and financially although there were some delays and got completed in early 2011.

·         A 1km section of Boundary Road between Highlands Highway/Boundary Road junction to Boundary/Huon Road Junction for K3 million.This project was undertaken by Lae Engineering Contractor Ltd. Although the payments were made in full, physical work was not completed. The work under this project is still outstanding; and

·         A 0.7km section of Huon Road from Boundary Road to Bumbu Road Junction for 2.1km.This portion of works was carried out by FTM Constructions Ltd under the close supervision of Lae City Authority and Gure Kule Konsultants. The supervision was changed to NME Internationals and then to DoW at its final stages.