1 week Ago By Sampson Bonai
HUNDREDS of travellers and trucks got stranded at Mumeng in Morobe following heavy flooding of the Kumalu River last Friday night. The flooding cut off the highway following heavy rain that caused widespread damage to the roads and bridges in Morobe. Lae was under water in most of the suburbs as the heavy down pour continued.
Highway trucks with supplies bound for Hidden Valley Mine and PNG Forests Products lined up along the roadside at Zenag. The worsening condition of the road with slippery sections from Gurakor to Patep bridge and to Parakris got on the nerves of the truck drivers as it posed great risk to them. Further down the road past Zenag towards Mumeng, the Kumalu River awaits them with it’s ugly stare to add nightmare and misery for them.
The light vehicles and the PMV trucks and buses were forced to spend the night on the opposite bank to wait for the flooding to subside and the machinery to clear the mud and debris and reopen the highway to traffic. A young lady who travelled to Lae to buy store goods for her shop in Wau complained about the deteriorating condition of the road and the heavy flooding and called on the government to allocate funding for the constriction of a flyover bridge to make travelling easier for the people and the business houses. “The government should see the plight of the people and take immediate action to build a flyover bridge at Kumalu River and get the contractor to fast track the maintenance work on the road to Bulolo,” a disappointed Margaret Allen said.
“I’m losing business not at my ignorance but of the government for failing to provide the much needed and improved road infrastructure development for its suffering people,” she said..
