Highways to be sealed: Abel

THE National Planning Department will work with development partners to identify the 16 national highways and have them properly sealed, Minister Charles Abel told Parliament yesterday.
Abel said, in response to Pomio MP Elias Kapovore’s query whether the South Coast Road in East New Britain was included as a national highway, that the department had received submissions for different agencies.
He said Planning’s role was to ensure that impact projects such as the 16 national highways were implemented by the relevant agencies such as the Department of Works, Transport and the National Road Authority.
“After that it is then the critical missing links and that is the subsequent roads connecting some of our provincial links that are still missing,” Abel said.
“Behind this is to link up the country, linking Port Moresby to all provincial capitals and other regional headquarters through the provincial capitals and then in a cascading manner provincial capitals down to districts, to LLGs through zone headquarters and right down to the council wards. “This is all contained in the national delivery framework. All these roads are important and we must approach it systematically.
“In terms of Pomio and East New Britain, the East West Highway is a national highway.
“All the national highways and the missing links are important and this government has done more than any other government to comprehensively address this infrastructure issues.
“I will bring the particulars to this parliament in relation to the development partners to show how each and every national highway is being funded,” he said.
Abel said he would give more detailed explanation on the funding and implementation of the East-West highway project.
The south coast economic corridor runs from Kokopo in East New Britain through to some parts of Kandrian Gloucester, Talasea and Kimbe in West New Britain.