The Government of Papua New Guinea, through its executing department, the Department of Works is doing a Road Sector Reform using Technical assistance and guidance provided by the Asian development Bank. In the starting of the Road Sector Reform, the development of a Road Asset Management System (RAMS) has been implemented. The RAMS is a planning tool that has a database, which stores and presents road data information, planning short and long-term road maintenance. The system is also used to create budgets and maximises economic returns of the investments made for the road network. The Government of Papua New Guinea has also established requirements for institutional reform and strengthening under its public sector reform program. The Government has wasted no time to respond to the community and other stakeholder pressure in legislating Road Sector Policy. As a result, the Government has committed itself to establish a National Road Authority. Naturally for the past 20 years the Government, through Department of Works has funded and managed the road networks. The Government has found it difficult to maintain road funding. As a result, some of the core road asset networks have received minimum maintenance or no maintenance at all. There is no doubt that poorly maintained roads will have a significant adverse effect on National Economic Growth, with adverse effect on GDP. In a developing country such as Papua New Guinea there is always a need to provide a basic level of access to all areas of the country in order to be able to provide basic services for all the population (f.e access to markets, administrative, health, education). A poorly maintained road network limits access, depriving rural populations of basic services. For the covering abstract see ITRD E135448.
Samenvatting