Papua New Guinea has started reconstruction work on the country’s oldest bridges.

The project is part of the country’s initial phase of the $100m bridge replacement programme, which involves 30 bridges out of the 700 planned for reconstruction under the national road programme.

Most of the bridges planned to be replaced have only one-lane and could not accommodate heavy traffic. The plan is to replace them with two-lane bridges on five out of 16 major national roads identified by PNG in their National Transport Development Plan.

The five roads are in the provinces of Central, East Sepik, Madang, as well as East and West New Britain.

After completion, the national road framework will provide improved road safety, as well as linking remote rural communities to markets, health and education facilities.

The programme is being funded by the Asian Development Bank with $90m and Papua New Guinea Government providing $10m.

The projects will be implemented over a five-year period by the nation’s department of works, according to australianetworknews.com.