Morobe Province - Lae & surrounding areas

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Rainforest Habitat walkway, Lae, well worth a visit:

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Nadzab Airport, gateway to Lae and Morobe Province:

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Lae is Papua New Guinea's largest port.

Here, a coastal vessel loads copra:

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Lae Yacht Club - pleasure craft at Voco Point, Lae:

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Lae War Cemetery entrance:

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Where vehicles are now unable to pass, people have to carry their goods to waiting vehicles on the other side of the washed out Zumin bridge on the Highlands Highway.

Source: Post Courier, 28th March, 2002:

Poor planning for bridge

THE collapse of the Zumim Bridge in the Morobe Province was attributed to poor planning and an alleged failure to use water study data in the initial stage of its construction.

Kay Kalim, an acting assistant secretary in the Environment and Conservation Department, said this yesterday during a celebration to mark World Water Day in Port Moresby.

Ms Kalim spoke on behalf of Environment and Conservation Minister Herowa Agiwa who was unavailable due to the parliament session.

The celebration, part of a worldwide event, was organised by Eda Ranu and attended by government and private sector representatives, including World Health Organisation representative Ruth Stark.

Ms Kalim said there was a proposal for a Pacific Hydrological Cycle System to be accepted by island countries. But the program could not be implemented when the network system in PNG was not working at full capacity.

She said it was possible to involve provincial authorities in collecting water data but the reforms were yet to be accepted by authorities.

“All the agencies reject collecting data needed for planning and managing water in PNG. The State would spend more to solve problems rather than preventing problems.

One such example on poor planning without using hydrological data happened on Monday evening when the Zumim Bridge was washed away,” Ms Kalim said.

Zumin hit again by rain - Update Wednesday, April, 17,2002
Source Post Courier

HEAVY rains in parts of the Morobe Province this week has caused further damage to the Zumin bridge.

But the Highlands Highway remains open, with traffic still able to use the Bailey’s bridge that has been launched across the Zumin River, about a hours drive out of Lae in the Markham Valley.

The rains caused floods which burst the banks built to divert the flow of the river to allow construction of the bridge last month.
The renewed flooding caused further erosion at the base of the Bailey’s bridge, causing concern that it may be washed out also.
Work is continuing upstream to divert the river flow away from the section that is prone to further damage.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta will this Friday launch the K205 million Yumi Yet National Bridge Program in Lae.
The program is to support the government’s road and infrastructure program announced earlier this year.

The first 400 tonness of modular steel bridges for the program have arrived in Lae from Britain.

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Works begin on highway

THE Lae provincial works office has mobilised road building equipment and workforce to the site of damaged sections of the Highlands Highway to start work on repairs immediately.

Work will begin in the Wampuai area, where about 200m of the road has been washed away, before a Bailey bridge will be transported to the Zumim River, where the existing bridge has been washed out.

Repair work and a new bridge is estimated to cost over K1 million, and may take up to two weeks.

An update report on the situation by regular highway user, Mountain Fuel Freighters, yesterday stated there had been further deterioration of the road at Wampuai, where most of the hard top and sub base soil had been swept away by the river.

“The Department of Works knows this and is concentrating on the road reconstruction,” the report said.

An excavator is now on site and will attempt to divert the river away from the two damaged road sections so that the repair work can start at Wampuai.

Two engineers from Mabey and Johnson, the suppliers of the Bailey bridge, are also on site. Engineers said a 50m span bridge is required for the work at the Zumim River.

Source: Post Courier, 28th March, 2002

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This photo taken in Lae April, 2002 near Lae Yacht Club:

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Lae Yacht Club April, 2002:

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Inside the Yacht Club - April, 2002: