Work on the ‘most critical’ 90-kilometre section of the Highlands Highway will begin later this year, under an ambitious 10-year repair and maintenance program funded by the Asian Development Bank. Department of Works Secretary David Wereh tells Business Advantage PNG he is already looking to use the funding model to ‘fix’ 16 high priority roads in other parts of the country.

The Highlands Highway Upgrade Project

The Works Department will be advertising for Expressions of Interest from road building companies later this month to gauge interest in the US$1 billion (K3.2 billion) project. The aim is to once and for all make PNG’s main arterial route, the Highlands Highway, a truly international quality highway.

Works Secretary, David Wereh, says he is excited by the project, telling Business Advantage PNG it is ‘workable, because it has long-term funding’.

The funding will come from the Asian Development Bank’s proposed Sustainable Highlands Highway Investment Program, aimed at ensuring that ‘the 430-kilometre of two-lane rural Highlands Highway from Lae Nadzab airport to Kagamuga airport in Mt Hagen, is rehabilitated, upgraded, and effectively maintained.’

‘Of all the roads we have in the country, the Highlands Highway is the most important we have,’ says Wereh.

‘This route from Lae Port, where the main wharf is located, up to the project sites is vital for the country.’

‘It services three-quarters of the population. All the major mining and petroleum projects are located in the region. This route from Lae Port—where the main wharf is located—up to the project sites is vital for the country.’

Length

Mud slide on the Highlands Highway. Courtesy: Peter Korugi

Seven hundred kilometres in length, the highway begins in Lae, travels through the Markham Valley, then climbs over the 1500 metre-high Kassam Pass to the Eastern Highlands capital, Goroka.

It then goes over the 2478 metre-high Daulo Pass, through Jiwaka Province to the Western Highlands provincial capital Mt Hagen, before splitting into two.

One branch goes through the Southern Highlands’ capital Mendi, finishing at Tari; the other goes through the Enga Provincial capital, Wabag, before finishing at the Porgera mine.

For most of its length, the Highlands Highway is no more than a single carriageway two-lane road, full of pot-holes and prone to huge landslides.

Funding

Wereh says the plan is to start drawing down immediately about K1 billion for the most critical 90-kilometre section which runs from the Chimbu-Daulo Pass, going through to the Jiwaka-Chimbu border.

‘By the end of this year, we should have a number of key contracts going out and construction work started.’

‘This is the critical area and we have developed some high engineering standards to deal with these sections. This data and information is built into the design specifications and, whoever the contractor is, they will have to build those roads to these new high standards.

‘By the end of this year, we should have a number of key contracts going out and construction work started.

‘Over the years, we’ve been giving out piecemeal solutions to these sections and the main highways, but we’re now dealing properly with geo-tech and geophysics issues which have always provided us with a challenge.’

Maintenance

Department of Works’ David Wereh.

Maintenance of the road is a key part of the package, says Wereh.

‘With sections which we have already upgraded, and are in good condition, we will have long-term, four-to-five year maintenance arrangements.’

Wereh says the 10-year plan will see various sections of the road being built simultaneously, rather than working from one end to the other. Details will be confirmed by the end of the year.

‘We are going to fix the dilemmas and challenges which have hindered our social and economic development.

‘We’re using new and workable approaches, which I hope we can use elsewhere in the country, on the 16 priority roads.

‘We’d like to work with the World Bank and other donor partners on these 16 roads on a similar basis to the ADB deal.’

The ADB meets in Manila this month to give its final seal of approval for its Sustainable Highlands Highway Investment Program, which will fund the Highlands Highway project.