PNG Works Minister may call in Defence Force

PNG Works Minister Francis Awesa says, he is ready to in PNG Defence Force if people along the Highlands Highway are blocking the road. He warned the people of Kainantu in Eastern Highlands to allow contractors and Works Department to clear a landslip blocking the highway or be dealt with by the army.
This warnings comes after landowners this morning moved in to the area to prevent workers clearing the slip, which blocked the road two days ago.
The Minister says the call is in line with the recent cabinet decision to call out the Army to deal with road matters in the whole highlands region, Madang and Morobe provinces where the highlands highway runs through.
“So in line with cabinet decision and in line with the wishes of the people in the highlands region, Momase and the rest of PNG, I will shortly make a decision to allow the army to go in help the contractors to fix the road and allow normal traffic to flow,” Awesa said.
“This is a warning to the rest of the highlands region, Morobe and Madang; we will not hesitate to use the army to clear the roads in similar situations in the future.”
He is asking the people to cooperate to allow traffic to flow as the highway is the life line of PNG as there are major agriculture and mining and petroleum projects in the region generating wealth for the country and it is the main way goods and service reach the highlands.
He is not happy with the idea of people continuously demanding compensation even for landslips blocking off roads.
However, he is happy with the people of Henganofi also in the province who have cooperated with their member and allowed access to the road after a similar situation just recently.