27 Nov 2007

Governor of PNG's Oro Province says replacing roads and bridges will cost millions

9:26 am on 27 November 2007

The Governor of Papua New Guinea's Oro Province says replacing the roads and bridges washed away by the flooding of two weeks ago may cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Relief, assisted by an Australian Air Force airlift, is now reaching throughout the battered province in which tens of thousands of people remain homeless, while Governor Suckling Tamanabae fears the death toll could exceed 250.

And he says early estimates for replacing the wrecked infrastructure put the cost at around 90 million US dollars, but he fears it will be much more.

"I think to restore the whole thing, I think you are really looking at up into the billions of kina because the major infrastructure, the major bridges - well over I would say 40 to 50 bridges, which are really really big ones, have been totally destroyed. And I see it mount up to some very expensive exercise."

Oro Governor Suckling Tamanabae.