The people of the Abau district in the Central province continue to face challenges traveling to Port Moresby city to do business or just to visit, because their portion of the Magi Highway is in a very poor state.
Mr. Ila Pat Ila’ava, a Ward 4 Council Member in the Aroma Coast Local Level Government (LLG), said that the Magi Highway portion that leads into Abau district after the Motuan Coastline, is only sealed up to Imila village and then right after the Imila bridge there is endless dirt road all the way to Kupiano station and further more to Moreguina.
He said this poor road condition continues to affect the local commercial activities because fresh produce and fish brought in to sell in the nation’s capital, are returned, get spoilt and wasted because of the poor road condition or flooding on the road caused by the heavy rains during the wet season.
“The villagers sell their produce and catch to buy basic necessities that they need, they sell to support their kids who go to school and they cannot afford to waste their hard labour because our roads are in very bad situation,” said Mr. Ila’ava.
“Local farmers who bring their produces to sell in the nation’s capital often go home almost empty handed because most of their takings go to PMV fares and this is very sad.”
Mr. Ila’ava also revealed that parts of the road that have been sealed before, have not been upgraded and as a result, there are pot- holes everywhere and the contractors only come in to patch-up those holes and nothing more.
“We do not need to travel miles to come to a town and catch a plane to come to Port Moresby, we are just 3 to 4 hours outside of the city, yet we feel like we are so far away.”
Rides into the city are always bumpy and long, sometimes passengers had to pull out bogged down PMVs or private vehicles when road conditions get worse during rain. As a result of this, PMV fares have gone up because PMV owners need to constantly service their vehicle, and this is harshly affecting the poor farmers who often bring their produce into the city to sell.
Mr. Ila’ava claimed that this situation has been like this for the last 20 years or so, and something needs to be done about the roads as soon as possible.
He further stated that their local Member of Parliament Sir Puka Temu, who is now in his 5th term in parliament, has to be serious in doing something about this situation because it is costly and it is affecting the lives of everyone in his electorate of Abau.