A demand driven investment in market access infrastructure for high cocoa production areas Teobhuin and Sipotavai areas, in Tinputz, AROB where return of investment is guaranteed.

Thank you for the farmers’ perseverance, commitment and determination in cocoa farming. This has paved for the rehabilitation of their 5.8-kilometer market access road feeder road at a tune of K6 million.

Following the signing and awarding of contract between the Cocoa PACD Project and Raibro Construction Limited in October 2024 Raibro commenced work on the road on the 09th of December 2024. To date the road is near completion with 61 percent progress and work is still progressing. Expected time for the completion of the road is in June 2025.

This week the Project Senior Engineer and Agriculture Feeder Roads Coordinator visited the road site for inspection and site meeting with the contractor and team. Along with the team there is the project Safeguard Specialists team to do an inspection to ensure that top quality work is carried out and the World Bank Safeguard standards and rules are compiled during the contractor’s work.

The visiting team was impressed with the road progress as the impact of the road construction has already been felt by the people in Teobhuin to Sipotavai. For generations, community members have endured difficult journeys, carrying heavy loads of cocoa dry beans and produce along the bush road tracks to reach the near by junction to access PMVs.

Senior Engineer Raymond Paulias said this existing feeder road has been upgraded to all weather condition to ensure produce reaches the market. This will ease critical market access constrains for cocoa growing communities in the respective areas”.

He commended the contractor, the Safeguard and assistant engineer team on the ground for the great work. “We all work together this is a partnership work and we all in one team to deliver to our farmers this is the key to any project,” said Mr Paulias. The road project Community Relations Officer and a key lead cocoa farmer in Buka island Marlon Sira expressed the collective sentiments of the beneficiary communities.

Marlon shared that the communities are happy it really benefits the communities that struggle for more than five decades to bring cocoa dry beans to the market. “For over 40 years we have struggled to survive, disconnected from the basic services of life especially health and education’’. “The challenges we faced these years was there was no road to Sipotavai to Tinputz station for one reason there was no road,” said Marlon.

He said families used to carry their cocoa bags and other produce, walking four hours just to reach the market, it was a reality. And giving birth was always a struggle, a journey through the bush sometimes pregnant mothers loses their lives. Marlon further stated that now farmers are getting more than 15 tonnes of cocoa every week going to the market unlike before and for one reason there was no road.

This new road has finally eased our burden, now with this newly built road we can travel by vehicle right in front of our homes, many are planting new cocoa trees again, others are building new permanent houses and people have easy access to the other services they desperately need.

“We are deeply grateful, our worries and struggle are a thing of the past now when the new road finally connects us with the rest of the Buka Island communities,’’ he added. We also saw that this is a way for forward for the AROB Government in readiness for independence this road is a great achievement it also increases revenue and improve people’s standard of living going forward plus the road will open up more opportunities for them.