Douglas Tomuriesa, Pope Francis and James Marape

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  Opposition Leader Douglas Tomuriesa said he is disappointed and embarrassed over the way His Holiness Pope Francis was treated by Prime Minister James Marape over the last three-days during the Papal visit, and the lack of courtesy and respect shown by the Prime Minister. He said the Prime Minister continuously declares PNG as a ‘Christian country’ and prides himself on being a religious individual but he was surprised when the Pope was continuously snubbed by the PM over the weekend since the Pope’s arrival on Friday. “The Pope is the head of the Catholic church, the largest Christian church in the world and he is also a head of state. “PNG not only being a Christian country, but a country that prides itself as a ‘friend to all, enemy to none’, the PM should be according the Pope with the highest level of respect,” Tomuriesa said. The Opposition Leader pointed out that on Friday, the Prime Minister did not welcome the Pope at the airport, a tradition he had accorded to many othe...
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K1.4bil road contracts

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Main Stories

PRIME Minister James Marape has announced a slew of road contracts totalling K1.4 billion.
It includes a K159 million contract for the Ramu Highway in Madang and K43 million to extend the North Coast Road from Bogia to Awar.
He made the announcement in front of hundreds of people in Usino-Bundi’s Walium Station on Thursday when presenting K5 million to Madang Governor Peter Yama for the construction of the Banu-Bundi Road that will eventually link up to Chimbu’s Gembogl.
The Ramu Highway is among the new road contracts in Papua New Guinea under the Government’s “Connect PNG” programme which has to date disbursed about K1 billion in two years.
The contracts awarded are:

  • K159 million for the Ramu-Madang stretch of the Ramu Highway in Madang;
  • K147.5 million for the first stretch of the Wewak-Vanimo Highway up to Aitape;
  • K115.9 million for the Momote Airport-West Coast Road in Manus;
  • K164 million for upgrade of Imulima Bridge-Moreguina stretch of Magi Highway in Central, to eventually link up with Milne Bay;
  • K70 million for Bautauma-Imulima Bridge section of Magi Highway in Central;
  • K138.5 million for New Britain Highway from Kimbe in West New Britain to Kokopo in East New Britain;
  • K400 million for Yalu Bridge-Nadzab Four-Lane Highway in Markham Valley of Morobe;
  • K50 million for sealing of Kiunga-Tabubil Highway in Western, which will ultimately lead on to remote Telefomin in West Sepik;
  • K15 million for sealing of Daru Town roads;
  • K66 million for Bulolo Highway resealing; and,
  • K80 million for sealing of Halimbu-Koroba Road in Hela;

Marape said Usino-Bundi and Madang had not been forgotten as he gave the K5 million to Yama.
Usino-Bundi is one of Madang’s most-remote districts with basic government services not reaching the people, and road access a top priority for the three local level governments.

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