Bridge Maintenance Strategy for Developing

Countries - Papua New Guinea Experience

Bala Muhunthan

B.Sc(Hon) in Civil Eng., M.Eng.Sc., MIE Aust., MICE, MIEPNG, CPEng.

SYNOPSIS

A Bridge Replacement and Upgrading Program (BRUP) was introduced and implemented by
the Australian Agency for International Aid (AusAID) by appointing an Australian
Management Contractor (AMC) Cardno and Davis International, a Brisbane based Civil
Engineering Consultant in Papua New Guinea (PNG). A three-year program was introduced in
November 1996 and assistance for the continuation of the program is likely with more
emphasis on bridge maintenance. This paper discusses the author's experience in PNG in
implementing the maintenance component of the BRUP in 16 out of 19 provinces where in
the past little bridge maintenance was carried out.

1 MOBILISATION

1.1 Arriving in PNG and Introduction to the DOTW

After being interviewed by the Company over the phone and appointed as Bridge
Maintenance Specialist arrived in Canberra for a briefing by AusAID. Few days later arrived
in PNG at Port Moresby international airport and received by the Australian Team Leader
(ATL) who was already in the country. Cardno & Davies have been operating in PNG over 30
years and had an office in Port Moresby. On the following day after assembling at the local
office proceeded to a meeting that was arranged with the Department of Transport and Works
(DOTW), the implementing agency. Following the meeting office accommodation and basic
furniture and equipment was arranged by the DOTW to commence work.

1.2 The BRUP and the Australian Team

The BRUP consisted of five components, Component 1: Construction of Facilities which

covered mainly the bridge replacement for a value of A$25.41 million, Component 2: Bridge
Maintenance for a value of A$5.93 million, Component 3: Developmental Training for a
value of A$1.21 million, Component 4: Development of the Civil Engineering Technical
Centre (CETC) for a value of A$1.69 million and Component 5: Project Management &
Monitoring for a value of A$0.76 million. The total allocation for the BRUP was A$35
million over three years. The larger proportion of the funding was allocated for bridge
replacement and the second largest allocation was for bridge maintenance.

The initial Australian Team comprised of the ATL, Bridge Engineer and the Bridge
Maintenance Specialist. A Curriculum Officer, Financial Monitoring Officer (FMO) and a
Bridge Monitoring Inspector (BMI) to assist the Bridge Maintenance Specialist later joined
the team.

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1.3 Administrative Areas of PNG and the DOTW network

Under the provincial Government system set up, PNG had 19 provinces and the provinces are
grouped into four regions. These were the Highlands, Southern, Islands and the Sepik regions.
The Highlands region comprises of Southern Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Western
Highlands and Enga Provinces. The Southern region comprises of Central, Gulf, Western,
Milne Bay and Oro provinces. The Islands region comprises of North Solomons, Manus, West
and East New Britain and New Ireland provinces. The Sepik region comprises of East Sepik,
Sandaun (West Sepik), Madang and Morobe provinces. Each province had a Provincial
Government (PG) that was run by an elected Governor assisted by a Provincial Administrator
(PA). The DOTW had four Regional Offices (RO) and 19 Provincial Works Offices (PWO).
The ROs are managed by Regional Managers (RM) and the PWOs are managed by Provincial
Works Managers (PWM) and assisted by Provincial Civil Engineers (PCE). The road network
comprised of a National Road system and a Provincial Road system. The DOTW was
responsible for the National and the PG was responsible for the Provincial Road System.

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Fig. 1 Map of PNG showing Administrative Areas

The map in Fig 1 shows the administrative capitals of all four regions of PNG. It can be seen
that the Northern and Southern regions are separated by the mountain range that covers the
Highlands region. The Islands region covers the islands of New Britain, New Ireland, Manus
and Bouganville in the north east of PNG. The administrative capital for the Northern region
and the Islands region is located at Lae, for the Highlands region it is located at Mt Hagen and
for the Southern region it is located at Pt. Moresby.

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1.4 Program Scope

A Project Design Document (PDD) (1) that was produced as a result of a feasibility study that
was carried out prior to the implementation of this program set out the guidelines and the
scope necessary for the implementation of the project. The scope of BRUP covered funding
for maintenance of bridges on National and Provincial roads. After arriving in the country it
was realised that the DOTW did not have a specific bridge maintenance program. Bridges
were maintained as part of road maintenance and any request for funds by the provinces for
emergency maintenance or repair were provided from the road maintenance funds. There was
no up to date information available on the condition of bridges. This prompted the need for up
to date bridge condition information to estimate the immediate maintenance needs required to
decide on the allocation of funds. As a result PDD was revised and a Design Modification
Report (DMR) (2) was produced to reflect the actual situation and proposed variation to the
PDD.

1.5 Nomination of Project Coordinators

The first step in the implementation process was to write to the PWOs of the DOTW asking
for nomination of bridges on National Roads for inclusion in the initial bridge maintenance
program. The initial request was sent out to the provinces in early December 1996. The
responses began coming from the provinces from January 1997. The AMC compiled the
information to estimate the overall maintenance requirement for the whole country. The
second step was to write to the PWMs requesting them to nominate a Project Coordinator to
coordinate the BRUP bridge maintenance program at the provincial level. The nominations
for this also were received from the provinces. At this time an Action Plan in Fig. 3 has been
prepared to set out the steps necessary to be taken to implement the maintenance component
of the BRUP.

2 TRAINING

2.1 Skills existed prior to BRUP

At the head office level an administrative assistant and a Senior Technical Officer (STO) were
assigned to assist the Bridge Maintenance Specialist. The STO had local knowledge of the
bridges in the country and has been with the DOTW for over 15 years. In the provinces the
PWM and the PCE are usually locally qualified Civil Engineers. In some cases expatriates fill
these positions. Many provinces maintained a bridge maintenance crew and the crew is lead
by a foreman. Members of the bridge crew had good knowledge of Bailey bridges and had
very good experience in replacing parts and assembling, launching and de-launching Bailey
bridges.

2.2 Need for additional training

The lack of skills required to carry out bridge inspections, prepare condition reports, scope of
works and cost estimates in the provinces necessitated the need to conduct workshops in the
provinces. These workshops had to be conducted before the BRUP could be fully mobilised. It
was also necessary to go to the provinces and make contact with the DOTW personnel in the
provinces and also meet the newly appointed Project Coordinators. The main purpose for
conducting the workshop was to meet the output requirements of the BRUP, to train the

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DOTW personnel to carry out detailed inspections and prepare scope of works and estimates
and introduce the main aspects of bridge management. It was also expected that consistency in
reporting would be achieved.

2.3 Training Workshops

The duration of the workshop was two days. On the first day topics related to BRUP
explaining the specific goal of the project and the aims of AusAID were covered. A bridge
inventory and bridge management database already existed with the DOTW. The features of
the system were described to the participants by explaining the purpose and the capabilities of
the system. The different levels of information required from the provinces on the bridges to
prepare a detailed national bridge maintenance works program for each financial year were
described. The necessary forms to be used to record the information were also introduced. An
Action Plan in Fig. 3 that was developed, line of communication and the use of trust accounts
were also explained.

On the second day, the participants were divided into groups of not greater than five and put
to the task of inspecting a bridge that was randomly picked using the standard inspection
form. The bridge inspection exercise covered bridge inspection and reporting, taking
identification photographs and descriptive problem photographs, identifying maintenance
problems and discussion about possible remedies. A workshop handbook (3) and a certificate
of attendance were also presented to the participants. The workshop was conducted at 14
centres with a total participation of 161. As a result of the workshops detailed bridge
condition reports, scope of works and estimates were received from 12 provinces initially.

3 BRIDGE INFORMATION

3.1 Bridge Information Systems

The World Bank provided funds to the DOTW to establish a database in early 1996 as part of
a Bridge Inventory and Bridge Management (BIBM) study. The study set out guidelines for a
bridge inspection and management system by creating a database. The overall study
introduced types of bridge inspections to be carried out as General, Detailed and Special
inspections. It also specified the frequency of the different types of inspections and the
required qualified personnel to carry out the inspections. The database had 42 fields of data of
bridge inventory and also contained standard forms for bridge inspections, one for Bailey
bridges and the other for other bridge types. Completing these forms automatically enters
inspection information into the database. The existing database had 868 bridges on the system
at the beginning of the BRUP. The bridge information was entered into the system that was
available from old records in the DOTW. The additional information was obtained from field
surveys.

3.2 Inventory Survey

The BIBM database initially contained records of 868 bridges on National Roads in PNG. An
inventory survey was conducted to register bridges that have not been identified before. As a
result of the survey inventory information was received from many provinces. The
information was entered into the database that resulted in number of bridges increasing from
868 to 1358. It was estimated that the number of bridges in the country would be over 1800

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on National Roads alone. A brief summary of bridge population on National Roads in PNG is
given in Table 1.

Table l Bridge Types in Papua New Guinea

Region Bridge Type Total

Bailey Steel/Conc. Steel/Timber Log Others
Southern 109 48 78 21 28 284
Highlands 164 49 36 4 17 270
Northern 306 106 65 11 21 509
Islands 146 30 43 31 45 295
Total 725 233 222 67 111 1358

3.3 Bridge Locality Maps

A physical filing system was also created to file bridge inspection information, photographs,
correspondence and bridge maintenance details. Individual files were created for every bridge
that was recorded on the 13133M database. The National Mapping Bureau of PNG was
approached to produce regional bridge locality maps electronically. Appropriate scale was
selected to show bridge locations clearly. The maps were plotted in colour and laminated for
mounting on the wall.

4 BRIDGE MAINTENANCE UNIT

4.1 Establishment

It is a common practice in many countries to have a Bridge Maintenance Unit (BMU) within
the Head Office to maintain bridge records, program bridge inspections, and program bridge
maintenance work and to maintain an up-to-date bridge inventory.

Principal Engineer
Bridge Maintenance

Senior Engineer Bridge Engineer Bridge

Maintenance Maintenance

Senior Technical
Officer
1
Keyboard/Data Entry
Operator

Fig. 2 Bridge Maintenance Unit Staff Structure

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While implementing the BRUP program the above mentioned functions were also being
established by the AMC. It was proposed by the AMC to the DOTW that a BMU should be
established to take responsibility for these functions and manage the planning and
implementation of the maintenance program. The proposal was accepted by the DOTW. As a
result a staff structure was proposed and included in the overall structure of the already
existing Maintenance Coordination Section. The staff structure was later approved in one of
the DOTW structural reviews. The structure approved for the newly created BMU is shown in
Fig. 2.

4.2 Office Space, Equipment and Furniture

Necessary office space was allocated by the DOTW. As part of the BRUP overhead
expenditure allocation computers, a fax machine and the necessary furniture were purchased
for the BMU. The bridge records, regional maps and the counterpart staff allocated to BRUP
at that time also moved to the new BMU office.

5 BRIDGE MAINTENANCE PROGRAMMING

5.1 Levels of Information

As mentioned before an Action Plan was prepared showing the process of information
processing for maintenance programming. The Action Plan describes the levels of information
requested from the provinces at various stages for different purposes. The list of information
levels and their descriptions are summarised in Table 2. Appropriate forms were designed and
introduced at the training workshops and the existing bridge inspection forms one for Bailey
bridges and the other for other bridges were adopted.

Table 2 Information Levels used in preparing Bridge Maintenance Program

Information Description
Levels
Level 1 Initial nomination for funding purposes to include name of bridge,
bridge description, route number, chainage, preliminary scope of works,
preliminary estimate and priority.
Level 2 Detailed bridge condition report introduced as part of BIBM study to
include identification photos, photos of defects, sketches and comments.
Level 3 Detailed cost estimate to include a brief scope of works, details of
labour, material and plant requirements and 10% for contingencies.
Level 4 Contract documentation, three types were introduced those are contracts
for Village and Youth Groups, Minor Works Contract and Major Works
Contract.
Level 5 Completion report to include bridge details, project preparation path,
method of contract, approved cost, actual cost and project completion
date.

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5.2 Request for Funds

Once Level 1 information was received from the provinces the information was processed and
the recommendation for funding was included in the Annual Plan. The details of maintenance
requirements based on the nominations received from the provinces each year are summarised
in Tahle 3.

Table 3 Bridges nominated for maintenance in each Financial Year

1996/97 1997/98 1998/99

Region/Provine Priority Total Priority Total Priority Total
1 2&3 1 2&3 1 2&3
Southern Region
Western 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4
Gulf 0 4 4 2 8 10 4 4 8
Central 26 10 36 13 5 18 13 5 18
Milne Bay 0 2 2 5 1 6 5 1 6
Oro 10 0 10 5 0 5 5 0 5
Highlands Region
Southern 11 0 11 23 0 23 23 0 23
Enga 7 3 10 8 0 8 0 3 3
Western 18 6 24 9 6 25 14 11 25
Simbu 15 10 25 7 3 10 7 3 10
Eastern 0 4 4 12 31 43 9 31 40
Northern Region
Morobe 2 51 53 2 50 52 1 49 50
Madang 5 71 76 8 50 58 28 30 58
East Sepik 13 16 29 7 22 29 7 22 29
Sandaun 25 0 25 7 0 17 17 0 17
Islands Region
Manus 0 2 2 0 2 2 0 1 1
New Ireland 25 7 32 23 6 29 22 6 28
East New Britain 7 3 10 4 2 6 4 2 26
West New Britain 10 4 14 6 2 8 6 2 28
North Solomons 7 3 10 4 0 4 7 4 11
Overall Total 181 196 377 155 198 353 176 174 350

A criterion to decide the priority level also was distributed to the provinces when requesting
for Level 1 information.

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5.3 Detailed Inspection and Works Program

Following the determination of the funding for bridge maintenance, projects were prioritised
and selected to be included in each year's works program. These Bridge Maintenance Works
Programs were produced annually for three financial years. The details of the works programs
produced each financial year and the recommended funding is summarised in Table 4.

Table 4 Proposed and Approved funding for each Financial Year

Region/Provine Proposed Authorised Proposed Authorised Proposed

1997/98 1998/99 1999/2000
Southern Region
Western 0 0 0 0 380,000
Gulf 0 0 198,500 12,800 218,500
Central 0 1,179,800 493,800 106,000 493,800
Milne Bay 30,000 187,400 22,200 110,000 22,200
Oro 100,000 89,200 231,000 79,800 241,000
Highlands Region
Southern 100,000 105,600 263,400 26,000 263,400
Enga 0 0 97,900 42,200 50,000
Western 500,000 358,000 559,000 151,500 590,000
Simbu 300,000 310,700 358,400 9,900 358,400
Eastern 50,000 0 96,800 26,700 95,600
Northern Region
Morobe 0 0 295,900 33,200 290,500
Madang 700,000 142,300 398,200 261,200 410,200
East Sepik 500,000 330,200 412,100 101,000 400,500
Sandaun 400,000 276,500 286,700 131,700 270,300
Islands Region
Manus 100,000 0 33,000 4,200 25,000
New Ireland 100,000 0 696,500 95,000 696,500
East New Britain 300,000 187,800 187,600 7,000 185,200
West New Britain 300,000 485,600 262,600 323,600 260,500
North Solomons 200,000 66,750 59,500 66,700 130,000
Overall Total 3,680,000 3,719,850 4,953,100 1,588,500 5,316,900

Note: the amounts shown above are in PNG Kina, the value of PNG Kina varied during the
project between 0.56 and 0.80 of an Australian dollar.

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5.4 Reporting

The following reports were produced as part of the client's (AusAID's) requirements:

Table 5 Reports Produced in each Financial Year

Report Title Purpose Information Month of the

Used Year
General Bridge (4) Compilation of Bridge Level 1 Jan
Maintenance Program Maintenance Requirements
Review of Bridge Condition Prioritise Bridge Level 2 April
Reports (5) Maintenance Projects
Review of Bridge Produce a Maintenance Level 3 May
Maintenance Programs (6) Works Program
Pre-qualification of Bridge Guideline to Pre-qualify and Registration March
Maintenance Contractors (7) register contractors of Contractors
Design and Documentation Design and Documentation Level 4 May
of Bridge Maintenance for maintenance and
Contracts (9) contract documentation
Monthly Reports Monitor progress Project Monthly
Progress
Completion Reports Project conclusion Level 5 at completion
Supply of Bailey Bridge Assesi Bailey part Information Single
Parts (8) requirement from survey

5.5 Maintenance Expenditure

When the claims were received from the provinces they were processed and the maintenance
expenditure was recorded. A statement as shown in Fig. 4 was prepared and issued for every
bridge and a summary of expenditure for all the bridges in each province was also produced.
The statement shows the authorised amount for the maintenance works for the bridge and the
balance remaining each time a batch of claims is processed and statement is issued.

5.6 Implementation

The proposed and approved funding for each financial year has been shown in Table 4. The
maintenance requirements in each year obtained from Level 1 survey are also shown in Table
3. Problems were encountered in the implementation of the program due to the acquittal of the
expenditure on bridge maintenance in the provinces. It was found that appropriate time has to
be allowed for the activities between requesting the issue of work orders by the AMC and the
quarterly acquittals are carried out. Only when quarterly acquittals are submitted to AusAID a
top up of the Trust Fund takes place with the acquitted amount for the quarter to make funds
available for future commitments for bridge maintenance. There were 19 activities that took
34 weeks in the implementation process between the issue of work orders and the acquittal of
funds. These 19 activities include issuing the work orders, ordering the materials, carrying out
maintenance, submitting the claim, processing the claim, transferring the funds to the
provincial account for payment etc. The efficient implementation of the program very much
relied on the efficiency in carrying out these activities.

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6 BRIDGE MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES

6.1 Bridge Types

The distribution of bridges and their types in PNG are summarised in Table 2. From the table
it can be seen that the majority of bridges in PNG are Bailey bridges. Bailey bridges have been
used in PNG for over 50 years. They were introduced during the Second World War by the
allied forces that were stationed in PNG. The Bailey bridging system was devised to enable
erection to be carried out by relatively unskilled labour under the supervision of a qualified
engineer. It was designed in such a way that four men may carry the heaviest component and
all components may be transported to site in normal 3-tonne trucks. The Bailey bridging
system was meant to be used by hand often in darkness under gunfire. In PNG they are still
used as semi-permanent bridges. Since PNG is still developing rural areas are being opened
up for development and settlement. This requires more bridges and the demand is being
satisfied by the use of Bailey bridges. When a Bailey bridge is replaced with a permanent
structure, the replaced Bailey bridge is normally reused as a temporary bridge, sometimes on a
Provincial road. A summary of distribution of Bailey bridges in PNG is given in Table 6.

Table 6 Bailey Bridge Types found in PNG

No of Baileys
Region Bailey Compact Super Bailey Standard Other Overall
Total Bailey Bai ey Total
C100 C200 SS DS SS DS
Southern 109 8 5 20 7 47 22 175 284
Highlands 164 30 10 35 16 31 42 106 270
Northern 306 60 22 43 60 56 65 203 509
Islands 146 20 10 19 35 23 39 149 295
Total 725 118 47 117 118 157 168 633 1358
SS - Single Single; DS - Double Single

6.2 Commonly Occurring Maintenance problems

It can be seen from Table 6 that 725 out of 1358 bridges are Bailey bridges. It can also be seen
from Table 7 that 86 out of 127 bridges included in the 1997/98 program are Bailey bridges.
Bailey bridges are component-based bridges and shortage in Bailey parts results in delays to
the maintenance program. Many of these bridges have timber plank decking. The other
common problem with Bailey bridges is replacement of timber decking. The timber decking
gets vandalised or simply deteriorates due to heavy use and weathering. The expected life of
timber planks used on Bailey bridges is 5-8 years.

Table 7 Distribution of Bridge Types in 1997/98 Bridge Maintenance Program

Region Bridge Type Total

Bailey Steel/Conc. Steel/Timber Log Others
Southern 22 1 12 0 1 36
Highlands 27 0 0 1 0 28
Northern 24 1 0 1 2 28
Islands 13 4 1 5 12 35
Total 86 6 13 7 15 127

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 ACTION PLAN

BRUP MOBILISATION (AMC) BIBM Fruuilia,isation &

Update

ASSIGN PROJECT COORDINATORS

IN PROVINCES (DOTW)

ASSESS IMEDIATE MAINTENANCE Request Level 1

REQUIREMENTS (DOTW)

Finalise Level 1
P REPARE ANNUAL PLAN (AMC)
Prepare Cost Plan and
Work Plan
SEEK FUND APPROVAL (AMC)

PRIORITISE PROJECTS BASED ON

FUND ALLOCATION (AMC/DOTW) Request Level 2 & 3

4,
PREPARE WORKS PROGRAM Finalise Level 2 & 3
(DOTW/AMC)

4,
TRANSFER FUNDS TO TRUST
Request Level 4
ACCOUNT (AusAID)

Finalise Level 4
AWARD CONTRACTS (DOTW)

MONITOR PROGRAM (AMC) Request Level 5

V
PREPARE COMPLETION REPORTS
Finalise Level 5
(AMC/DOTW)

Fig. 3 Action Plan

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 DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT AND WORKS
BRIDGE REPLACEMENT AND UPGRADING PROGRAM (BRUP)
RECORDING OF MAINTENANCE EXPENDITURE
STATEMENT DATE: 2-Dec-98 STATEMENT NO: 6

PROVINCE: WNB BRIDGE NAME: BILA BRIDGE ID:

PROJECT NO: A593049-M4200 PROJECT VALUE: K23,500 PROGRAM YEAR: 1996/97 & 1997/98

DATE CLAIM CLAIM DESCRIPTION CLAIM DEDUCTIONS MATERIAL LABOUR PLANT TOTAL COMMENTS
NO. TYPE (describe items briefly) (Kina) (Kina) (Kina) (Kina) (Kina) (approved)
Nov-98 0301 FF4 Wages 289.75 289.75 289.75
Nov-98 0305_ FF4 Wages 288.52 288.52 288.52
Sep-98 2968 Ilpoc Bolts & nuts 177.60 177.60 177.60
Oct-98 0210 FF4 PTB hire _ 390.00 390.00 390.00
Nov-98 0401 FF4 Wages 691.27 691.27 691.27

Total Claims ( his statement) 1,837.14 0.00 177.60 1269.54 390.00 1,837.14
Total Claims (last statement) 3,249.03 177.60 2,746.43 0.00 325.00 3,071.43
Total Claims (todate) 5,086.17 177.60 2,924.03 1,269.54 715.00 4,908.57
Total Allocation (net) 20,711 1,170 1,335 23,216
Total Allocation (incl. 10% cont.) 22,780 1,290 1,470 25,600
Total (balance available) 19,900 0 800 20,700

Fig. 4 Recording of Maintenance Expenditure

Other problems are common to all bridge types and are of routine nature such as vegetation
removal, general cleaning and painting, cleaning of scuppers and improving approach
drainage and road surface. Safety is another concern with bridges without rails and approach
guardrails, hazard boards and bar marking for single lane bridges.

6.3 Availability of Replacement Parts

AMC maintained good interaction with the local industry in developing a steel decking
system for deck replacement that is long lasting and vandal proof. Two of these systems
became available. A close relationship was maintained in developing the systems with two
private companies. A report (8) was produced based on a survey carried out to assess the need
for replacement parts for Bailey bridges. The report made recommendations to AusAID and
the DOTW on the required funding for the purchase of parts using an annually renewed
Registered Price Agreement (RPA) and the supply of parts to the existing storage and
distribution facility at Lae in Morobe province. Encouragement was also given to local
companies to produce replacement parts for discontinued Bailey bridge types.

7 DISCUSSION

At the beginning of the program, a maintenance works program was not available from the
DOTW and it could not be produced without sufficient bridge condition information. A
survey of bridge maintenance requirements was carried out at the beginning of the program.
As a result information on bridge maintenance requirements was received from the provinces
and was compiled. A maintenance works program was not available for implementation when
the AMC arrived in the country and one could not be produced immediately. The main
problem encountered was the lack of engineering staff with appropriate training and
experience in the provinces to inspect bridges and prepare condition reports. To address this
problem a series of training workshops were conducted by the AMC in the provinces to train
the DOTW personnel. A BMU was also set up with assistance from the AMC during this
period to coordinate bridge maintenance activities between the head office and the provinces.

The impact of the program was reflected in 1997/98 survey of maintenance requirements. The
total requirement for maintenance reduced from PNG K14.0 million to PNG K11.5 million
with total number of bridges requiring maintenance from 377 to 353 as shown in Table 3. The
Priority 1 bridges reduced from 181 to 155. The personnel in the provinces and at the head
office became very familiar with the processes introduced and good communication was
maintained between a network of Project Coordinators and the BMU staff. When travelling in
the provinces it was quite visible to see many well-maintained bridges as a result of the
program. The BMU staff got used to the idea of producing annual works programs and
preparing funding submissions.

8 CONCLUSION

The total duration of the program was three years. Within this period it was possible to
introduce the program at provincial level, train the personnel, assess the maintenance
requirements, prepare maintenance works programs for each financial year, secure and
distribute funds, monitor expenditure, process claims and prepare quarterly acquittals. It was
also possible to set up a BMU and develop the systems required and manage the planning and

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implementation of the maintenance programs. It took over 6 months to complete the training
workshops and another three months to receive the detailed condition reports, scope of works
and cost estimates from the provinces to produce the first bridge maintenance works program.
Therefore for a program of this nature when introduced would require at least nine months to
mobilise and implement. It can be seen from Table 3 and Table 4 that if the distribution of
funds were maintained at the recommended levels the maintenance requirements could be
brought down with three consecutive works programs for each financial year. It is
recommended that the initial program duration for a project of this magnitude should be five
years to see visible reductions in maintenance requirements. If the program is funded by an aid
agency it should continue to fund it for five years initially with option to continue with
reduced but continuous funding for another five years to bring the service level of the bridges
to an acceptable standard.

REFERENCES

1. AusAID, PNG Bridge Replacement and Upgrading Program, "Project Design

Document", August 1995.
2. AusAID, PNG Bridge Replacement and Upgrading Program, "Design Modification
Report", July 1997.
3. AusAID, PNG Bridge Replacement and Upgrading Program, "Training Workshops on
Bridge Maintenance Programming", December 1997 (revised).
4. AusAID, PNG Bridge Replacement and Upgrading Program, "General Bridge
Maintenance Program", 1996/97, 1997/98, 1998/99.
5. AusAID, PNG Bridge Replacement and Upgrading Program, "Review of Bridge
Condition Reports", 1996/97, 1997/98, 1998/99.
6. AusAID, PNG Bridge Replacement and Upgrading Program, "Review of Bridge
Maintenance Programs", 1996/97, 1997/98, 1998/99.
7. AusAID, PNG Bridge Replacement and Upgrading Program, "Pre-qualification of
Bridge Maintenance Contracts, October 1997.
8. AusAlD, PNG Bridge Replacement and Upgrading Program, "Supply of Bailey Bridge
Parts", June 1998.
9. AusAID, Bridge Replacement and Upgrading Program, "Design and Documentation
of Bridge Maintenance Contracts", 1996/97, 1997/98, 1998/99.

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