A local team of youths from Bundi and Simbu cleared up piles of dirt and debris blocking off the road from Simbu to Upper Bundi.
The blockage resulted from six landslides caused by continuous rainfall along the area two months ago.
Piles of logs and huge rocks completely covered the road making it impassable, blocking off all services into Bundi.
One local SME Owner, Nelson Gandai, led a team of 22 boys in the clearing exercise two weeks ago.
Using a chainsaw and bush knives, they hacked away at the logs and sticks and dug through dirt piles with sticks, crowbars and spades.
Founder of a local Community Based Organization, Kumura Foundation, Vincent Kumura in a statement, said it was a very daunting task.
Mr Kumura said the Kumura Foundation has gathered 16 youths from Pomie in the upper Bundi area and partnered with Mr Gandai and his team, along with a second team of nine (9) boys led by David Monguma from Simbu to continue the work of clearing debris just to create a pathway for four-wheeled-drive vehicles to pass through.
The youths camped out at Mondia Pass for two weeks at a height of 2,900m under freezing conditions at night to fix the road.
While it is somewhat accessible now, persisting damp conditions still beg for proper work to be done on the road.
Last Friday, 12 youths assisted an ambulance vehicle with wheels stuck in the mud.
The whole exercise of digging, pushing and pulling through piles of debris took them three hours before the vehicle arrived in Simbu.
Mr Kumura says fortunately, there weren’t any emergency passengers onboard the ambulance.
He stated that the 32km stretch from Simbu to Snow Pass and Yandera in Upper Bundi is badly deteriorated and needs urgent government assistance.
“We have three Primary Schools (Bundi, Yandera and Snow Pass), the Snow Pass Eco-lodge, the Snow Pass Medical Dispensary, Kumura Foundation, proposed Yandera Mining, SMEs, coffee farmers and the 20,000 people of Bundi including sick patients affected from these bad road conditions.”
Furthermore, the 2023 ‘Bundi Komba Festival’ will be held from April 17-19. The festival is a recognized event by the PNG Tourism Promotion Authority and the National Cultural Commission of Papua New Guinea.”
Therefore, the foundation is calling for respective government authorities to respond quickly in clearing up the landslides and maintain the road link to Bundi,” stated Kumura.
Mr Kumura said the Kumura Foundation is prepared to work with local and provincial government authorities to serve the people of Bundi.