Official Launch of Manus East-West Highway Redevelopment at a Cost of K115.9 Million under the Connect PNG Program

Thursday 03rd of November 2022 the East-West Highway Redevelopment in Manus Province was officially launched at the NBC Beach in Lorengau Town. The event was officiated by Master of Ceremony (MC) Mr Brian Alois – First Assistant Secretary, Project Operation Management of Department of Works and Highways. The ceremony was witnessed by Hon. John Rosso – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Lands & Physical Planning, Hon. Solan Mirisim, MP - Minister for Works & Highways, Governor for Manus Hon Charlie Benjamin, Speaker of Parliament Hon Job Pomat, David Wereh Secretary for Works and Highways and other invited dignitaries.

Governor Charlie Benjamin welcomed the invited dignitaries at NBC Beach upon their arrival from Momote Airport. It is such an honour in receiving very high value project and on behalf of the people of Manus I thanked the Marape-Rosso government to have us the people of Manus in mind and in sponsoring this major project under the Connect PNG Program. Governor for Manus said, Connect PNG is about connecting provinces however for Manus Province, we are fortunate to get access to K115.9 million road project.

What is Connect PNG?

Connect PNG is an infrastructure development program by the government in 2020 to take focus of roads development out of Port Moresby and into the rural areas of Papua New Guinea. By then Marape-Basil Government Connect PNG targets for the road sector that when PNG celebrates its 50th Independence Anniversary, Port Moresby will be linked to Northern and Highlands regions from Lae to Goroka, Madang, Mt Hagen and Alotau. By 2030, PNG should have a single undivided road network on the mainland of Papua New Guinea and single road Highway corridor in the Island provinces of Manus, New Ireland, East & West New Britain and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB).

Connect PNG does not only refer to roads, Connect PNG also refer to rural infrastructure such as bridges, health centres/clinics, water supplies, electricity supplies, buildings, airports, telecommunications, schools, agriculture and livestock and etc., all of those comes under Connect PNG through the connectivity of roads, said the MC.

The first six major projects under Connect PNG are:

1. Manus East-West Highway Redevelopment
2. Sepik Coastal Highway Major Upgrading and Sealing Works
3. Madang
4. West New Britain Province
5. Central Province and
6. Central Province

COVEC PNG Limited have won the contract for the Manus East-West Highway Redevelopment. COVEC has been operating in Papua New Guinea for 27 years since 1995. COVEC has successfully completed hundreds of projects, most of which were funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB), AusAID, World Bank and GoPNG, including roads and bridges, airport runway upgrading and terminal construction, buildings, water supply & transport and other civil engineering works around PNG. COVEC construction camp site is currently based at Lundret Primary School which is 16 kilometres from the NBC intersection.  COVEC will be in Manus for a duration of three years. All the six major projects under Connect PNG is 3 years that is 36 months each.

East-West Highway begins at the intersection of NBC, Ward 4 in Lorengau Town to the Western part of Manus at approximately 105 Kilometres. The first phase of the project beings at the intersection of NBC to Kawa Primary School which is 32 ½ kilometres. East-West Highway has been inexistence for almost 50 years and 50 years is a very long time so this launch is purposely to redevelop the highway and is a lesson that when we begin the road construction, we must do it properly and complete it, said Brian Alois – FAS (Project Operation Management) Works and Highways

Government have approved 16 economic corridors in the Connect PNG Policy. Ten (10) of which are priority corridors meaning they consists of economic activities like gold mine, coffee, timber and etc. while the rest just connects one province to another.

Hon. John Rosso – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Lands & Physical Planning who represented the Prime Minister Hon. James Marape said, Transport Infrastructure is a key enabler and very important progress of our country. Without good transport connection we will carry our cargoes on our backs and walk. Good roads enable development, enable economic prosperity and enable us to travel/walk here and there to access service. The Government’s plan is to invest K20 billion in economy of roads over a period of 20 years and our government started this in 2020 to adequately support economic activities and competitiveness inclusive of our agriculture industry and other economic business.

In line with Connect PNG vision to deliver 100% road connectivity by 2040 with strong commitment of Marape-Rosso government, we have made available more than K3 billion over the last 3 years since 2019. This funding is intended to upgrade existing and deteriorated road networks and to contract missing road links to connect our people and our provinces which are being identified and included in the Connect PNG Program

Before presenting the cheque worth K15, 816, 646.16 to Wang Hong Ming – Managing Director for COVEC PNG Limited, Deputy Prime Minister said, the government has more than K5 billion worth of active contracts that are working progress on managing the key economic roads in our country. Many of these contracts are with local contractors and it is helping to create more than 4000 direct jobs inside our country. The cheque payment of K15, 816, 646.16 that was presented to Wang Hong Ming – Managing Director for COVEC PNG Limited is 10 percent of the total cost of K115.9 million overall value of redevelopment (upgrading and sealing) of 32 ½ kilometres of road starting at NBC intersection to Kawa primary school. The total value of the total distance of 105 kilometres is yet to be announced. This was followed by the unveiling of the Monument and the official ground breaking at the intersection of NBC road which was done by Deputy Prime Minister Hon. John Rosso.