The high profile Kumul Flyover project in Port Moresby was New Zealand construction company Hawkins Group’s first major project in Papua New Guinea. Hawkins Group CEO Geoff Hunt reflects on the lessons learned from a project which demonstrated that international standards and tight deadlines can go hand-in-hand in PNG.

The Kumul Flyover at night. Credit: Hawkins Group

The K161 million Kumul Flyover project involved the design and build of a 2.2km, four-lane road, including a 600 metre flyover, to connect Port Moresby’s Jackson International Airport to the administrative, sporting and retail hub of Waigani.

The Pacific’s first four-lane overpass was opened on 31 May, in time for the PNG’s hosting of the 2015 Pacific Games.

As the ‘main contractor’ Hawkins Group subsidiary Hawkins Construction led the design and construction, with focus on undertaking the bulk of the work through local sub contractors.

While project was a success, it was also an education in the challenges that face contractors on major infrastructure developments in PNG, according to Hawkins Group Chief Executive Officer Geoff Hunt.

Hunt told the 2015 PNG Advantage Investment Summit in Brisbane that the challenges his company faced were typical of any project in PNG, and included achieving international health and safety standards, gaining access to the site, and negotiating contracts.

‘The first person to lose their job under the strict approach was the original, locally employed health and safety manager…. That caused a seismic shift in the understanding that safety was to be taken seriously.’

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International standards

Hawkins Group’s Geoff Hunt

Hawkins adopted a strict approach to lifting health and safety on the project to an international standard, Hunt explained, adding that ‘once we stated our requirements and enforced them’ it quickly improved to the required level.

‘We ran a very strong compliance-based approach and that meant everyday we started with breath-testing everybody on the site for alcohol,’ Hunt said.

He said the first person to lose their job under the strict approach was the original, locally employed health and safety manager.

‘The astonishing thing was that by actually removing him from the site, it sent a very powerful message out to those working for us that even a manager could be fired for non-compliance to a health and safety requirement. That caused a seismic shift in the understanding that safety was to be taken seriously,’ he said.

Valuable lessons

As the company’s first large project in PNG, Hunt said overcoming the challenges led to several ‘learnings’ from the experience.

He said the first key learning was for the company to expect to negotiate on-site access itself after it was left ‘to deal with the locals’ and ‘all the stakeholders’ in the initial stages of the project.

‘They are actually good organisations. Just more has to be asked of them,’ Hunt said.

All ‘extras’ are considered to be already included in the contract, he said, which means you need to increase the size of the  management team to get the required results.

Hunt said Hawkins found it was possible to achieve international safety and performance standards on PNG projects, while staff security was another important requirement where careful management must be considered.

Prestige

The Flyover has also caused a major shift in the scale of road infrastructure projects that have been completed in PNG.

Hunt said the project was very prestigious for PNG, the company and all of the subcontractors which were involved.

‘It is the gateway to Port Moresby,’ he said. ‘A total of 800 people worked on the project; 85% were PNG nationals. It was also a project that caught the imagination of the residents of Port Moresby.’