Maintaining rural roads a massive problem for government

Department of Works (DoW) secretary David Wereh on Monday admitted that maintaining rural roads throughout the country is a massive problem for the government.

He made the admission when Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) announced it would start a K40 million four-year project with the Papua New Guinea government to start repairing selected rural gravel roads in four provinces in 2014.

“Roads are very important to this country,” Wereh said at a meeting to kick start the project.

“We have about 8,700km of national roads and about 21,000km of provincial roads.

“Trying to manage these roads and keeping them in passable condition is a huge challenge and task for the department that is mandated to upkeep these roads.

“Every year we talk about money.

“It just requires enough resources to ensure that these roads are kept in a passable condition.

“On the back of the roads, we can talk about service delivery, growing the economy and others.

“We at the department were exploring options that can help us to overcome the backlog of issues we have, both on the provincial roads and national roads.”

Wereh said the start of the project marked a milestone as JICA partnered with DoW to refleet the once-thriving plant and transport branch (PTB) that was revived in 2008.

“We’re looking at sustainable maintenance operations, how we can continue to upkeep our roads in both provincial and some sections of the national highways.

“Initially, it will be piloted in the four regional (DoW) offices, and then it will expand out to other provinces and districts throughout the country.

“Roads should always be kept in a passable condition.

“What is happening at the moment is that we are attending to maintenance needs as and when we have funding.

“That’s why we see that sometimes roads are in good condition, sometimes roads are in bad condition.

“Trying to keep roads in better condition is always an issue and a major challenge.

“We believe that the partnership that JICA and we (DoW) are going into should provide some sustainable maintenance programmes on some of the key roads throughout the country.”

The project in Morobe, East Sepik, West New Britain and Western Highlands seeks to assist PNG, which is facing problems in road maintenance, by carrying out capacity improvement on its implementing agencies.

JICA will provide K32 million which provides for heavy equipment to revive the once-thriving plant and transport branch (PTB) and road building, while PNG will provide counterpart funding of K10 million.

Road sections of 10-20km will be built in the four provinces, meaning up to 80km will be built over the four years.

JICA to start repairing rural roads

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will start a K40 million four-year project with the Papua New Guinea government to start repairing selected rural gravel roads in 2014.

JICA chief representative Shigeru Sugiyama on Monday announced the start of the project in Morobe, East Sepik, West New Britain and Western Highlands at a meeting with Department of Works (DoW) secretary, David Wereh, and representatives of Japanese consultants Ingerosec Corporation and Oriental Consultants Co. 

Sugiyama and Wereh at the announcement of the four-year JICA rural roads project yesterday.-Picture by MALUM NALU

The project seeks to assistant PNG, which is facing problems in road maintenance, by carrying out capacity improvement on its implementing agencies.

Through this, it hopes to strengthen to project implementation capacity of the DoW in-house staff in areas where private involvement is not involved.

According to a project overview, of the 8, 738km of roads under the jurisdiction of the DoW, 64%, equivalent to 5, 590km are national gravel roads which are the target of this project.

JICA will provide K32 million which provides for heavy equipment to revive the once-thriving plant and transport branch (PTB) and road building, while PNG will provide counterpart funding of K10 million.

Road sections of 10-20km will be built in the four provinces, meaning up to 80km will be built over the four years.

Sugiyama said research had shown that because of the limited number and excessive costs of domestic private contractors, 90% of the national gravel roads had been left in disrepair in PNG.

“This project seeks to assist PNG in tackling such road maintenance issues by carrying out capacity improvement on its implementing agencies,” he said.

“With the rural communities at the highest disadvantage to date, this project aims to break the hindrances caused by missing links in the main highway networks, and upgrade and maintain deteriorated and impassable national roads.

“With four implementing agencies, four target provinces, this four-year mission intends to strengthen the project implementation capacity of the Dow in-house staff through several crucial activities.”

Wereh gave a vote-of-thanks for the JICA support.

“We appreciate and acknowledge the support that JICA is giving,” he said.

Anti-corruption public lecture today

The U.S. Embassy will be hosting a visiting speaker from December 2-6, 2013.  

 His name is Robert Cerasoli and he is an expert in anti-corruption, rule of law, ethics, and has experience serving as inspector general in the U.S. government. 

Robert Cerasoli

He will be presenting a public lecture today on the topic: "What does it mean to be an Ethical Public Servant? 

Thursday, December 5, 2013

What does it mean to be an Ethical Public Servant? (1 hour 30 minutes)

Location:   PNG Institute of Public Administration

Time:         2.30PM to 3.30PM

Entry:         Free of Charge

Objective: To discuss the importance of ethics and professionalism in public service and highlight the role civil servants play in advancing democracy at a crucial time for PNG.

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.

Company singled out in Lae roads report

By MALUM NALU

A private company NME International (PNG) Ltd has been singled out in a damning Department of Works (DoW) report into rehabilitation and upgrading of Lae city roads, which shows that  there was massive foul play in awarding of contracts amounting to almost K200 million.

The report has been given to Task Force Sweep by DoW to investigate.

The report reveals that four contracts were procured for Stage 1 amounting to K24.4 million,  12 contracts were procured for Stage 2 amounting to K104.3 million plus variations, an additional K28 million was appropriated in 2012 to settle outstanding claims, and additional funding of K27.39 million is require to complete the remaining balance of works.

The government only transferred the administration and management of Lae roads rehabilitation and upgrading to DoW in August 2012 to ensure successful completion of ongoing works.

Stage 1 works commenced in 2009 with contracts given to Dekenai Construction, East-West 1 Ltd, FTM Construction and Lae Engineering Ltd.

“In line with the National Government’s aspiration to upgrade the Lae City Roads to a Standard Urban City Road status, K50 million was allocated in 2010 supplementary budget,” the report says.

“By the virtue of the appropriation bill, the funding was allocated to DoW,  however, the projects were hijacked at the central agencies and Central Supply and Tenders Board (CSTB).

“NME International (PNG) Ltd (NME) was engaged as State’s representative to manage all aspects (design, procurement, project management) of these projects.

“A detailed audit has been undertaken to establish the project financial and physical status.

“The audit reveals that 12 contracts were procured which equates to K104.3 million, including variations.

“The State erred from the beginning by awarding contracts above the K50 million funding appropriation.

“Additional K28 million was appropriate in 2012 to settle outstanding claims certified by NME as well as completing the outstanding works under Stage 2.

“Most of these projects were procured under certificate of inexpediency (COI).

“There was no justification for the expedited procurement for such important projects.

“Ample time should be given for proper planning and technical design necessary to make informed investment decisions.

“Consequently, lot of ambiguities and variations has surfaced, thus DOW is doing its best to address and conclude these projects.

“NME scoped for concrete pavement works, a highly technical task.

“There was no proper design to guide contractors.

“Most contractors lacked experience in such projects and were not familiar in executing it.

“Inefficiency of unskilled contractors in concrete pavement and buildable design resulted in poor performance and slow progress.

“Engineers’ estimates were unavailable to compare and review the contractor’s prices.

“All contracts were awarded as per contractor’s pricing.

“These prices were further inflated by variations due to poor scoping and design.

“Department of Finance (DOF) paid over K30million in advance to contractors to commence work.

“Some commenced as expected, however other did not commence until October 2012.

“Due to misprocurement, some contracts have been suspended awaiting further instruction from CSTB.”