Kandep Feeder Roads Maintenance

As of Late January 2012, the maintenance works for all feeder roads in Kandep has begun with two separate crews working both day and night and on a 10 hours a day shift. To begin with, the Kandep station to Kambiya and last Last Wert road has commenced and the progress is expected to be at Marient catholic Mission as of this date. Critics are saying that money for these maintenance works have been discovered recently and non in 2011 and back, meaning to say that these roads should have been maintained long time ago. The author's personal opinion is that alot of time is being wasted while transporting gravel from as far as Lawe to take it to Marient. How about picking up gravel from Binn Mountain and better still from Pokeramanda. Observations reveal that only up to a maximum of 4 truck load is made per truck per shift and cost of fuel is very expensive too. The sad thing also is that, a excavator is the lone machinery used for this maintenance works without any grader and roller to ensure a quality work is done and durable, works done is worth the money spent. It is anticipated that not all feeder roads will be maintained within the short space of time until the elections.

Photography below are few shots taken when visiting the site at Kimblam.

Before the road Maintenance

Maintenance works that commenced on mid January 2012

This is the lone excavator that is at work 24 hours a day

Group urges govt to prioritise on low-cost, effective projects

Source: The National,Wednesday18 January 2012

By GABRIEL LAHOC
STUDENT volunteers of the Sago Network, a volunteer group that recently completed a water and sanitation project in Laukanu and Kelkel villages in Salamaua, Huon Gulf district of Morobe, have called on the
provincial and national governments to prioritise low cost but effective approaches such as theirs.
The Sago Network is a volunteer team of design and development professionals and students from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Papua New Guinea University of Technology (Unitech), who facilitate community impact projects in rural Papua New Guinea, and was recently engaged in the Huon Gulf district.
The Sago Studio 2011 project featured the collaborative effort of nine students from the UTS and eight from Unitech, who were put into teams in four main areas – master-planning, water wells, washing areas and toilets – for both Kelkel and Laukanu villages.
Nickson Haveo, a third year bachelor in building student at Unitech, made the call on behalf of his fellow student volunteers during the official opening of the community toilets.
He said as students and individuals, they had learnt a lot from that project, especially in the area of consultation and collaboration with the locals and equipping them with the necessary confidence and exposure.
Laukanu and Kelkel locals agreed that the approach by the Sago Network cut down on unnecessary and expensive unprofessional contractors who were normally engaged by the district and leaders at costly rates, with many doing incomplete jobs.
Sago Network leaders Brandon Worsley and Lachlan Delaney confirmed the cost of the project was K105,000 and received from Huon Gulf district.
The people said the infrastructure development work in the two neighbouring communities was more than the actual funding expectation.
The student volunteers worked for five weeks from 6am to 6pm, and went out of their way to include landscaping on their project sites and extra maintenance work on classrooms.
They agree that such an approach that engaged tertiary students into rural areas during their breaks would go a long way in developing the nation.
Salamaua local level government president Joshua Haggai said funds were available and the LLG and the district would continue such engagements with the Sago Network

US couple help village

Source: Post Courier, January 18, 2012By  ANNA OMBA DWU journalism student

Health is one of the basic services that should be provided by the government throughout the country; however, most of the rural areas in Papua New Guinea do not have sufficient health facilities and buildings to help the people.
Mandan village near the great Wahgi River in the Anglimp South Wahgi District of Jiwaka Province is one out of the many rural areas that have never seen a government service since independence.
“We are fortunate because our clinic was built by an American couple who own the nearby Mandan coffee plantation Dr Larry Hull and wife Aarlie Hull who are also the managing directors for the Highlands Arabica Ltd PNG,” said Ralda Kuri the assistance plantation manager for Manda Coffee plantation.
He said he did not know about other places but it was the first time in their area for a company to provide them with such service.
“We are very happy to have this clinic in our area and we will make sure it has everything it needs to serve our people. All the medical supplies are provided by Dr Larry and his wife Aarlie, they send our medical supplies straight from America and they also send us money to buy the medical drugs to treat the patients. The couple even provide payments for our four staff which are unbelievable and outstanding,” he said. He said that this should be the government’s concern and priority but it lacked in helping the people.
Mr Kuri urged the government to ensure that rural places must have basic services provided and not other volunteers and expatriates for this could make it to be lazy and dependent.
He said the couple had also donated K100,000 to build a new literature centre with a HIV/AIDS centre or VCT centre in the area.
“We see that they have done so many good things for us and we believe that they will change our area. We are also ashamed of our government since it is their obligation to provide us these basic services which they have not done.
“We are appealing to our current MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham to help us with an ambulance so it will be easier for us to help our patients in critical conditions. Let us not put the entire burden to Dr Larry and his wife as we are Papua New Guineans let some of our needs be seen by our local MP,” said a concerned Sr Mary Yale from Chimbu, who is the officer in chage of the clinic. She said they had been using solar power for electricity but this was ineffective.
“We pray that God will continue to bless Dr Larry and his family in America for their endless support in helping and supporting the lives that were treated under this clinic,” said Sr Yale