Challenge

Much of Papua New Guinea’s road network is in poor condition. Without good roads, people cannot reach schools, hospitals and markets, making goods and services unavailable.

Poor road conditions have many causes: little investment in maintenance, widely-dispersed settlements, the rugged mountainous terrain and periods of heavy rainfall. In addition, there is limited participation of communities or private contractors in maintaining roads and bridges.

In recent years, the country has experienced a severe decline in the condition of its roads and bridges.

Solution

To help deliver a programme of improvement, Mabey Bridge was contracted by the Ministry of Works to supply 116 single and two-lane bridges to be constructed in Papua New Guinea between 2002 and 2006. These bridges would be installed across the country, in all provinces, and often in very difficult terrain.

As Hon. Gabriel Kapris, Papua New Guinea Minister for Works explained at the start of the project, “The coming years are exciting for us. We are going to get what we badly need – fast, effective infrastructure with our National Bridge Programme, the Yumi Yet.”

The Compact 200 modular bridge was chosen for the project, due to it being easy to transport and install as well as having low maintenance requirements.

The Yumi Yet Project had a value of £40 million. To assist the Papua New Guinea government, funding for the project was arranged by Mabey Bridge, which has longstanding expertise and experience in arranging funding for its customers’ bridge projects. Many urgently-needed infrastructure projects might never go ahead if a viable funding mechanism cannot be identified.

Mabey Bridge has the relationships and experience in the financial markets to arrange funding in most cases and was able to do so for the Yumi Yet project in Papua New Guinea

Result

The Yumi Yet project has helped to dramatically improve the Papua New Guinea road infrastructure, both nationally and regionally. Crucially, it has improved access to markets, employment opportunities and basic services such as education and health for remote communites that were increasingly isolated as the road infrastructure deteriorated.

The Yumi Yet Project has improved rural income levels through better access to outside markets and so had a positive impact on the wider economy. Mabey Bridge is proud to have helped improve the lives of so many people in Papua New Guinea.