Wau Waria aims to complete highway to Garaina Station before PNG’s 50th Independence

Freshly graded section of the Morobe-Northern Highway, stretching from Wau to Northern Province (NBC News: Rachel Shisei)

The people of Morobe’s youngest district, Wau Waria will be able to travel to Popondetta in the Oro or Northern province by road, and also to Goilala in the Central Province, thanks to the National Government’s Connect-PNG Program and the leadership of their first MP, Marsh Narawec.

The Morobe-Northern Highway is the main trunk that’ll start from Wau and go all the way to Kira, the first village in Northern Province, with the Waria-Goilala Highway to branch off from the Morobe-Northern Highway at the Sim airstrip to reach Rupila, the first village of Goilala in the Central Province.

Despite the official groundbreaking ceremony and launching of these two Highway projects only taking place on Tuesday last week, the 25th of March, the new district had already started work last year.

According to Narawec, the district used a total of K17million to start work on the Morobe- Northern Highway in 2023, K9million being from Connect-PNG Contracts all fully paid, K3million from the District’s Infrastructure Program Funds and K5million from the Wafi Golpu gold mine’s Infrastructural Development Grants [IDG] from the Morobe Provincial Government.

In 2024, K5 million was utilized, with K3 million coming from payments made under the Connect-PNG Contract. This left K7 million outstanding from the K10 million initially allocated, with the district contributing an additional K2 million from its District Infrastructure Program funds.

For 2025, the district has budgeted K10 million for the Connect-PNG project and will proceed with K3 million from its District Infrastructure Funds while awaiting approval of the full K10 million from the National Government.

Sim airstrip, where construction for the Waria-Goilala Highway will start (NBC News: Rachel Shisei)

Despite the full funding not being received as originally budgeted, the Wau Waria MP said that the district will proceed with using its available funds to continue the construction of the two highways.

The primary focus will be on advancing the Morobe Northern Highway, the main trunk route, to reach Garaina Station before the country's 50th Independence Golden Jubilee Celebrations on September 16th this year.

“We are going to pull whatever resources we have, and we will start working on the road; we’re not going to wait for the National Government. We’ve actually purchased 100 fuel drums and serviced our machines already, and we’re about to continue construction work where we have left off last year,” Narawec said.

The Wau Waria MP told NBC News that he is sure the district funds can get the Morobe–Northern Highway to reach Garaina station before the country turns 50 years old and will welcome additional assistance from the National Government during that time to achieve this goal.

Travelling by road, NBC News witnessed firsthand that the Morobe-Northern Highway has already reached Bapi, the first village in the Garaina LLG of the Wau Waria district, at an estimated 35 to 40 kilometres in already.