In the last 10 years, the DOWH has tried to find its place again. Photo: Scott Waide
Analysis - When Papua New Guinea's National Executive Council (NEC) handed down Decision 41/95 in the mid-1990s, it was pitched as modernisation - a shift from government-led construction to a private sector-driven model.
But three decades later, many inside the Department of Works and Highways (DOWH) say the decision helped accelerate the deterioration of the country's roads, hollowing out an institution that once kept the nation connected.
Before Decision 41/95, DOWH was not just a regulator - it was a builder.
For decades, the department operated base camps spaced every 50 kilometres along major highways. It was a model that worked. These depots had graders, rollers, dump trucks, bridge crews and mechanics ready to respond to emergencies within hours.
As Papua New Guinea's population has grown and climate pressures intensified, the nation’s infrastructure has struggled to keep pace, writes Scott Waide. Photo: Scott Waide
When DOWH deputy secretary Brian Alois, graduated from the PNG University of Technology with a civil engineering degree, he was sent to a rural district in Morobe Province as a DOWH trainee. They built bridges, roads and other government infrastructure when the department had an active training program.
He says the system once kept the country's main arteries in far better condition than they are today.
"In those days, you could drive from Lae to Madang in under four hours. That was the strength of Works in its prime," he said.
The reforms that reshaped the department were heavily influenced by World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) thinking. As the country grappled with the economic fallout of the Bougainville conflict and wider fiscal pressures, the government adopted structural adjustment programs demanded by the World Bank and IMF that called for a smaller public sector, more outsourcing and the commercialisation of state services.
The impact, according to senior officers, was profound.
The country's construction industry was not yet mature, and many contractors lacked the machinery, skilled workers, and experience to maintain the network at the level Works once did. Procurement delays and irregular funding cycles widened the gap.
Former secretary Joel Luma said the department's earlier role as a nation-builder was never adequately replaced by the new model.
"DOWH has always been the backbone of the country - setting the standards, building the roads and bridges, leading the way for all other services. Without roads, there can be no health posts, no schools, no electricity. Every connection starts with us," he said.
As the system faltered, the country's roads steadily deteriorated. Freight slowed, travel times ballooned, and remote communities suffered the most - waiting weeks or months for access to resume when key links failed.
Department secretary Gibson Holemba has frequently reminded policymakers of the financial and social cost of letting the network decline. He has warned that the country has already lost extraordinary value because of years of underinvestment and the collapse of public maintenance.
"We have lost so many roads - and all the money put into building them - simply because there was no maintenance," he said.
Gibson Holemba has frequently reminded policymakers of the financial and social cost of letting the network decline. Photo: Scott Waide
"Every road lost is not just kina lost. It is people cut off from services, children walking for days, and markets that never reach the towns. Our network is our nation's lifeline, and once it disappears, we all pay for it."
Without its own maintenance crews, DOWH could no longer respond immediately to emergencies. The effects rippled across the country - from delayed freight and stalled economic activity to families losing access to health services and school children walking long distances.
Holemba estimates that Papua New Guinea lost over a billion kina worth of roads and infrastructure over a period of 30 years through inconsistent maintenance.
Long-serving officers say the consequences were not just economic but human. They recall a time when DOWH presence in the provinces defined the country's development.
As Papua New Guinea's population has grown and climate pressures intensified, the nation's infrastructure has struggled to keep pace. For many inside the department, the lesson of Decision 41/95 remains stark.
The decision was rescinded about 20 years later. But the damage had already been done.
The impact was seen in poor health and education statistics. Teachers unable to reach previously connected rural schools, left and maternal and child mortality rates increased.
The reforms that reshaped the department were heavily influenced by World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) thinking, the author says. Photo: Scott Waide
In the last 10 years, the DOWH has tried to find its place again.
Construction of new roads led by the DOWH connecting PNG's capital to the highlands and Momase region to the north has been well received by some of the most rural communities.
But returning to the old days when the maintenance systems worked will take some time to achieve.
