The Road To Town - A Neglected Major Community Asset
Patrick Nomos | 27/1/2019
Like many roads in Papua New Guinea (PNG) the main road to town from my mother's village started its existence as a walking track, that eventually catered for bicycle riders as well as pedestrians. My mother recalls that in the late 1960s, amid huge excitement in the village, bulldozers and graders driven by men from other parts of PNG levelled and widened the track so that it could also be used by cars and trucks.
The chiefs of villages along the road were so pleased to have a road to town that they allowed the road contractors free access to pits of weathered coral ("karanas" in Tok Pisin) to obtain the gravel needed to provide an all-weather road surface. Some of the plant operators were so well-regarded by the village women that they married locally, their descendants still clearly recognisable in the community. Up until the start of the Bougainville Crisis the road to town was graded regularly, since although it is classed as a "Feeder Road" by the Department of Works, it provides the main means by which garden produce and cash crops may be transported to town for sale.
It is also a vital conduit for other commerce, and to service national institutions, schools and health centres along its length. Since the end of the Crisis, the road to town has been infrequently graded, the most recent major work being undertaken in 2016 when metal culverts were installed at points where water drainage was needed. The road is now in such poor condition that only three-tonne trucks and four-wheel drive vehicles can use it, at some risk to their exhaust pipes and axles. During and after heavy rain, three-tonne trucks can't safely use the road because the karanas surface has been washed off on steep hills, making it too slippery for their tyres to grip the road.
Some villagers along the road to town regularly take advantage of the road's poor condition to extort money from truck and other vehicle operators. Small sections - no more than 3-5 metres long - of the road near villages are inexpertly repaired, an illegal road-block is established, and drivers charged from K20 - K60 for the privilege of having the road-block lifted. These "patches" are of such poor quality that within a week or two the "patched" section of road returns to its previous state.
Local and national members of parliament consistently cite lack of funds when requested by their constituents to have the road restored to a reasonable condition. This response doesn't satisfy villagers as each day they watch their local member being driven to town in a hired Landcruiser, while they and their families wait in vain for the restoration of the road to town.
Photo: A neglected feeder road, Buka Island