The Ministry of Public Works has allocated a further $5,000 to the Miguel Group Company to finish the road from Malahara to Tutuala in the Lautem district.
The State Secretary for Public Works (SEOP), Luis Vaz Rodrigues said the budget for the 10 kilometre asphalt road was $2,9 million.
However he said the money was not sufficient to complete the project, so the extra $5,000 was added to the budget.
The work is scheduled for completion in March.
SE Rodrigues said a team from the Ministry of Public Works was in the field monitoring the project as it was a nationally significant road which required the attention of the government.
“That’s a national road and we need to build it properly and to have it finished,” SE Rodrigues said in Mandarin, Dili.
Member of Commission E (infrastructure, transport and communication affairs), Member of Parliament (MP) Inacio Moreiria said the government needed to intervene as the project began in 2010 and was still unfinished.
“If the company doesn’t have money, the government needs to resolve the situation that has caused it to take such a long time,” the Fretilin MP said.
Moreira said it was important to fix the road which connects Malahara and Tutuala as Tutuala had the potential to become a tourist destination.
Tutuala resident Marcel Ferrnandes said work had now stopped on the project.
Ferrnandes said dust pollution from the project had negatively impacted residents’health.
