By Scott Waide
Prior to 1995, Papua New Guinea's roads were constructed and maintained by the Department of Works. In 1995, structural and legislative adjustments shifted the role of the Works Department from maintenance and construction to monitoring and supervision.
As a result of those adjustments, works teams once stationed along major highways were withdrawn. Some road maintenance functions were given to provincial governments which didn't have the capacity. Construction of roads is now the role of private contractors who on many occasions don't do a good job.
These facts have led to an interesting and informed discussion on the social networking site Facebook about the poor advice PNG has received from overseas and who really benefits from all these expensive roading and repair contracts.
Here are some of the main points made by the participants:
- Once upon a time we had a Department of Works that actuallly did that. The works..... now they build casinos and watch the infrastructure fall apart....... all in the name of progress that the foreign advisors told us was good for the country ..... . I remember in the 70's and 80's driving along the Highlands Highway and being proud to see the bright yellow brigade fixing up sections of the road, along the Magi and hiritano and seeing the same thing...... now our engineers play lego and calculate how much of a commission they will make on the next AusAID financed venture with their mates at Coffey International or their buddies with non existent construction gear..
- Too many legislative amendments in PNG and we're not even getting better yet
- The former Department of Works was where our budding engineers, town planners, technicians and tradesmen got to blood their wares, cut their teeth, worked out what works and what doesn't. Then the Aussie advisers told us we have to do what they were doing, outsourcing and promoting commerce. Little did they tell us that we had to use Australian con men, crooks and spooks and along the way develop their talent pool by sending their red necks to learn their trade here at our expense...... we do what they tell us, dismantling an essential component of development along the way and they then tell us we are corrupt...... Every district office had a works office back then, now it is just a memory...... bloody Australians ...
- Most will simply say "that's just the way it is, pushing vehicles and winching it out of mud pools", but that was not the way it supposed to be. It is showing signs of a mismanaged society/country.
- A 2009 report by the National Economic and Fiscal Commission calculates that it will cost 130 times more to rehabilitate than to conduct ongoing maintainence.
- Another report by Exxon Mobil in 2010 said it would cost the government about 6 billion kina [equivalent to almost the while national budget] for a complete overhaul of the Highlands Highway.
- I think we did make a mistake. BRING THE WORKS department OLD functions back!!
- Thats the problem of outsourcing.we don't see money for value here..what.the govt preaches about...bring back the old DoW's...to create more job opportunities for PNgeans as used too years ago....
- There has always been mistakes when you listen to external advisors such as World bank and other donor partners. When can we learn PNG?
- These are some poignant, operational issues which are dead on truths! We've also had scores of other problems, to many to recite here, save for two;
(i) We (PNG) and even donors (e.g. AusAid, World Bank, ADB) have failed to budget for ‘infrastructure maintenance’ since time immemorial, and
(ii) No offense to our Engineers, but as a layman, I fail to see why there’s an almost neglect to designing appropriate drainage systems and catchments to cater for the run-off (rain water) in tropical climates and thin soils such as PNG!
- Once 'outsourcing' started happening, contracts were given to suckers that just wanted the money and were not really designers/planners/engineers. So those guys you see on TV congratulating themselves for winning road construction works, etc...they all suck.
- rait man's blog
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Comments
seriously, now with outsourcing comes the whole tendering
seriously, now with outsourcing comes the whole tendering process where corruption is rampant! Priavte companies are more interested in huge profit margins than doing quality work. Bringing back the old functions of DoW should provide lots of employment opportunities for our graduates and tradesmen and women and solve the current road problems we're having at a much lesser cost.
So ACT NOW, what do you suggest as the way forward?
So ACT NOW, what do you suggest as the way forward?
I grew up in a oil palm plantation and I clearly remember road
I grew up in a oil palm plantation and I clearly remember road inspectors from DoW doing regular checks on the oil palm feeder roads! After each visit you definitely see a grader coming around to clean the overgrowth on the road sides and level pot holes! There has been no such regular upgrades for the last the last 10 years when the DoW was done away with! thats a shame, the DoW did a much better job than private contractors.
I served on the Tenders Evaluation Committee on the World Bank
I served on the Tenders Evaluation Committee on the World Bank funded Oro Oil Palm Expansion Project in Oro. I had reasons to knock back some tenders some of which included pre-qualification non-compliance. (In layman's language this means that a Contract need to have the required minimum capital and equipment to qualify for a bid) Most contractors were knocked back but the ring of thieves engaged as contract engineers would forge my signature when delivering the altered list to National Supply and Tenders Board in Pom. When it came to light a complaint was laid to the Popondetta Police Fraud Squad and an official complaint was registerd with the Asia pacific WB mission Team Lead.. The cops got bribed...The World bank did nothing all they were interested in is that the loan drawdown was on schedule, because they only care about the profit they will make from the loan. How the Government manages the loan is its problem. With all the revenue from our Oil, gas, minerals and ofcourse the Log exports why do we keep borrowing only to keep the Fat Cats at Waigani and their Overseas crroks calling themselves engineers while we acquire substandard infrastructure with projected huge maintainance costs. Bring the DoW back and bugger the World Bank, and other IFIs and what they think.
Hello Gangai! Danny here from ALAC TIPNG, please get in touch
Hello Gangai! Danny here from ALAC TIPNG, please get in touch with us at the TIPNG office on 320 2182 / 320 2188 or my digicel mobile...Lok forward to talking to you soon!
i agree wit joe w. We should bring back DoW, and lose these
i agree wit joe w. We should bring back DoW, and lose these money hungry contractors! Its the quality we want to see!..not the quantity of work that keeps on going and going, and the money that is kept on being spent in the guise of maintaining when after a short period we end up hiting potholes the size of a crater...
For as long as I can remember there has been no attention paid
For as long as I can remember there has been no attention paid to the basic drainage of the roads around Wau. Roads have been top dressed and graded wuthout any drainage works. The next heavy rain can be seen to erode the local roads which act as de facto town drains. Neither expatriate nor local operators appear to have any official guidelines in these matters. It is easy to notice concrete culverts exposed, the top graded off and shown to be full of stones. The bridge over Wau Creek is aligned with the flow of water, it was never maintained. Three major armcos have been swept away due to lack of maintenance. The message here is that the Government should forget about the distractions of running businesses and taking shares in Mining Companies. Take in interest in taxing these businesses and supervising the proper use of that income to the benefit of ordinary citizens. 10 year tax holidays and other benefits that will increase the income from the Government share of exploitative industries are not in the interests of our citizens.
Tony Flynn