Papua New Guinea's minister for works says it is a long term government plan to link Madang by road to Indonesia.
Police patrol the streets of Madang in PNG. Photo: @Mangiwantok / twitter
Michael Nali said plans for the highway along PNG's north coast to the border with Indonesia's Papua region were still in their infancy.
Under PNG's current coastal road network, the main northern towns of Vanimo, Wewak and Madang are not connected.
Mr Nasli said he expected government to free up money this year to breach the impasse between West Sepik's capital Vanimo and Wewak in East Sepik.
But he said linking Wewak to the east with Madang was more difficult.
"We are hoping to get that built over time as money permits. It is not something that we will start today and finish tomorrow," he said.
"But it is in the government's plan, and in the government's interests, so over time we will slowly be looking at opening up some of these major missing links."
Michael Nali said connecting the road to Papua's capital Jayapura would open up a huge range of business opportunities for PNG.
