People on Watom Island in the Rabaul District can now easily access communities on the other side of the island following a major upgrade on the Watom Road Link. The Watom Island Road Link, according to a statement, was neglected more than 10 years ago without proper maintenance and mostly no vehicles utilizing the road resulting in overgrown bushes making it inaccessible. A recent site meeting conducted on the island recently saw the District Infrastructure Sector, the contractor, ward members and their ward development committee who discussed on the progress of the project and its challenges. When giving a status report of the project, the District Civil Engineer Mellie Munulai highlighted that the Watom Road Link is a six-kilometer road starting from the Vunakabai ward to Rau ward. He added that the project is a co-funded project funded under the Provincial Services Improvement Program (PSIP) and the District Services Improvement Program (DSIP) at a cost of K1.6 million and is being carried out by ET Contractors. “This project is a challenging one as Watom Island itself is a rocky island and our contractor has been spending a day or two in certain spots just to clear out huge rocks.” “The nature of this project includes clearing and grubbing, earthworks, base course pavement and drainage,” Munulai said. Also speaking during the site meeting was the Ward Recorder for Rau/Taranata ward, Samuel Buruno who thanked the provincial government and Rabaul district for such vital project that is now connecting their communities. “Normally we would carry our copra, cocoa and other produce and walk down hill on the rocky slopes just to go and sell our produce in town or seek other basic services.” “It would take us few hours with our cargoes before we could reach the beachfront,” Buruno said. He said that seeing the first car travelling up the road after more than ten years brought tears to our eyes as we knew that our cries have now been finally heard. Meanwhile, the Deputy District Administrator (Operations) Petrus Maninga urged the communities to take ownership of the project and encouraged locals to bring vehicles over to utilize the road. The Watom Road Link upgrade is expected to be completed by September this year.