By ENNIO KUBLE
THE debris blocking up to 40 meters of the road from the Sikola landslide has been successfully cleared last week.
This marks the commencement of the clearing operation along the Gumine road, with hopes that more than 40 blockages along the 35-kilometer stretch will be removed, allowing vehicular access by the end of the week.
The work, initiated on March 20th and supported by Chimbu Provincial Governor Noah Kool, was further facilitated by Gumine MP and Minister for Education Lucas Dawa Dekena, who inspected the progress on two separate occasions.
Electoral Officer for Gumine, Joe Koma, expressed gratitude on behalf of the district to the Kobilkane people for granting access beyond Sikola into Gaima, despite the unsuccessful retrieval of the 10 individuals buried in the landslide on March 13th.
“It is a generous and humane act from the Kobilkane people, who suffered significant losses in the landslide,” Koma said.
“The clearance of Sikola debris took almost a month due to the dual objective of locating the bodies and reopening the road.”
Abba Bruno, chief of the Kobilkane people of the Goreku tribe, expressed sadness over the inability to retrieve any bodies.
“We apologise to the Gumine District authority, the people of Gumine, Salt-Nomane, and the Mt Au people of Jiwaka for the delay in clearing the Sikola landslide,” Bruno said.
“It was a natural disaster, and we must learn to cope with it. We are cooperating with authorities to clear the blockages and resume normalcy.”
The Gumine road, managed by the Department of Highways and Bridges, spans close to 40 kilometers from Dokor in Kundiawa to Wara-Sua in Gumine. It serves the 60,000 population of Gumine and links the Salt-Nomane road of Karamui District to the 50,000 residents of Salt.
The closure of the road has severely affected over 20 primary schools and four secondary schools, including an all-girls technical secondary school, two health centers, and more than 10 health facilities.
Sixteen primary school head teachers have requested the Provincial Education advisor to postpone the commencement of term two until the road is fully cleared.
A formal submission outlining the challenges faced by schools and teachers were presented to Chris Mondo, deputy chairman of the Chimbu Provincial Disaster Committee, last week.
