Rehabilitation of the first 5km of the Ramu Highway was recently completed and work is underway on the rest of the 23km slated for improvement.
Road furniture, surfacing, drainage systems, pavement layers, stabilisation and earthworks are part of rehabilitation works, according to a report in The National newspaper.
Ramu Highway connects Morobe, Madang and the Eastern Highlands Provinces, one of country’s busiest economic corridors. This highway plays a pivotal role in linking coastal ports with inland agricultural and mining regions, notes PNG’s Department for Works and Highways. Apart from mining the agricultural industries at need sustainable access to markets are beef, sugar and palm oil production.
In January the National Broadcasting Corporation reported that the department had fast-tracked bridge repairs in Madang. Following a period of severe weather that forced travellers into dangerous wet-crossings, the government’s works secretary Gibson Holemba said emergency repairs on three critical bridges in Iguruwe, Omea and Yanima, were progressing ahead of schedule.
The repairs are part of a larger vision under the Connect PNG programme. Holemba said the World Bank is currently finalising procurement for a full rehabilitation of the Ramu Highway. This includes a design contract currently with the National Procurement Commission to reconstruct the entire Momase Corridor, eventually linking Wutung to East Cape.
The government developed the Connect PNG Programme to deal with a backlog of road maintenance and set a target of connecting the country’s entire remoter regions by road in a national system.
The government also initiated the Trans-national Corridor Highway, a 356km road.
The PNG Haus Bung news website reported in January that severe weather had caused the collapse of the Aumea Bridge and disrupted businesses and cut off a key section of the Madang–Lae–Highlands Highway. Authorities built a temporary wet crossing to restore traffic while plans to rebuild the bridge got underway.
