Contracts worth over K9 million for the upgrade and maintenance of two Agriculture Feeder Roads in East New Britain province (ENBP) were signed last Thursday at the National Procurement Commission (NPC) in Port Moresby. The agreements were formalized between NPC, the Cocoa Board of PNG through the PNG Commercialisation and Diversification (PACD) World Bank funded project and two contractors. The signing program was witnessed by the PACD Cocoa PMU Project Manager, Roland Kerina and Senior Engineer and Agriculture Feeder Road Component Coordinator, Raymond Paulias together with contractors’ representatives and NPC officers. According to Mr. Paulias, the two contracts signed includes the rehabilitations of the 3.18KM Vunapalading- Burit Feeder Road in inland Baining in the Gazelle District and the 4.0Km Kulungere Feeder Road in Sinivit in the Pomio District. He stated that the Vunapalading- Burit Feeder Road was awarded to COVEC PNG Ltd for a total of K4,101,405.28 and the Kulungere Feeder Road to Kokopo Plant Hire Ltd for a total of K4,964,336.34. “The existing feeder roads will be upgraded to all weather condition to ensure produce reaches the market.” “This will ease critical market access constrains for Cocoa growing communities in the respective areas.” Work will commence for both roads early next month in March and will have ten months to complete with completion expected by December of this year, 2025. Meanwhile, the Road Rehabilitation of the 5.8Km Tehobuin- Sipotavai Feeder Road in Tinputz of North Bougainville which was awarded in October of last year and under the PACD program, is progressing well and is expected to be completed by June of this year. These roads will benefit over 5, 000 cocoa farmers and will open doors for economic growth and connectivity between the different nearby communities as they are reporting an increase in cocoa production. With good road access, this will also bring in new and exciting opportunities to farmers in the area drawing attention for other services like schools, health or spin offs. Farmers in the two roads in ENBP, shared that in the past, they carried heavy loads and walked long distances following bush tracks crossing rivers to reach the nearest road junction to catch PMVs. A female cocoa farmer in Vunapalading in ENB, Rachel Micheal, also shared sentiments to her struggles of being a farmer. “We used to distribute our bags of cocoa dry beans into smaller bags and share the weight with our children and walk.” “We wake up early in the morning around 3 or 4 am and started walking.” “Now with better roads, our farmers can transport produce efficiently, children can attend school, and families can access health care.”