Transport in Papua New Guinea

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Mountainous terrain has limited the development of roads in many parts of Papua New Guinea and considerable danger from brigands (called rascals) has limited their use in transporting people and goods. The capital, Port Moresby, is not linked by road to any of the other major towns and many villages in the highlands can only be reached by light aircraft or on foot.

Where there are roads there are many privately operated Public Motor Vehicles (PMV's), mostly minivans, which function as unscheduled buses. The one major "highway" in the country is the Highlands Highway which links the coast to the highlands region. It provides the sole land transportation of goods and movement of people.

In coastal locations fibreglass "banana boats" provide a similar service as the PMV's that ply the roads.

Most of the transport services which require a larger investment, such as aircraft and long distance ferries, are run by the churches or church affiliated companies, for example Luship (from "Lutheran"), Adventist Airlines (better known as "Sevende") and Mission Aviation Fellowship. One notable exception is the government owned Air Nuigini.

Railways: 0 km

Highways:
total: 19,600 km
paved: 686 km
unpaved: 18,914 km (1996 est.)

Waterways: 10,940 km

Ports and harbors: Kieta, Lae, Madang, Port Moresby, Rabaul

Merchant marine:
total: 21 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 36,417 GRT/52,432 DWT
ships by type: bulk 2, cargo 10, chemical tanker 1, combination ore/oil 1, container 1, petroleum tanker 3, roll-on/roll-off 3 (1999 est.)

Airports: 492 (1999 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 19
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 14
914 to 1,523 m: 3
under 914 m: 1 (1999 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 473
1,524 to 2,437 m: 13
914 to 1,523 m: 58
under 914 m: 402 (1999 est.)

Heliports: 2 (1999 est.)

[edit] See also

• Papua New Guinea