Koare sub-district is linked to the main highlands highway by road and also
there is a remote airstrip (see section on airstrip) as well. The road plays a major part of the Koare peoples' lives as they strive to live under hardship and trying conditions. The road runs from either Mt. Hagen, capital of Western Highlands Province which acts as the nerve centre for the entire highlands region in terms of services which include proper banking, shopping, health, education, postal, airport and other city amenities. The capital of Southern Highlands Province (SHP) is Mendi and in terms of service provision, it is much smaller compared to neighboring Mt. Hagen. The highlands highway runs through both of these main centres and reaches out to the other districts and sub-districts in Southern Highlands Province. For the case of Koare, the main
highlands highway runs through Ialibu District which is regarded as the main centre for eastern end of SHP. The eastern end of SHP includes Ialibu District, Pangia District, Kagua District, Koare Sub-district and Erave District. Basic services such as small scale shopping is done in Ialibu as they do have some mini-supermarkets which sell basic household items such as soap, washing powder, rice, tinned fish, meat among other things. From Ialibu the highlands highway runs through Muli sub-station or village and the famous Yalo River. During rainy seasons, this particular river is well known for its overflows, bank busting, fast flowing, aggressiveness and it is quite wide. The Yalo River bridge is located at Seven Kona which derives its name from the famous seven corners of the hill and/or mountain close to the Yalo river bridge. The road goes all the way to Kagua District and passes through Inalere village. However, sadly many Koare kids have fallen victims of the rude and aggressive actions of the Inalere village people. One end of the highlands highway separates just before Kagua station and leads to Koare Sub-district via Koali Lombo village. Koare Lombo is known for business minded people and as far as Kagua/Erave District is concerned they are leaders in their own right through the promotion of small scale economic activities such as public motor vehicles (PMV), small size trade stores, mechanical know-how to fix cars, trade store goods transport from one village to another and their coffee buying and selling tactics. The road runs further to Pareanda village where there is a small market. It further goes through Seka Tea Plantation which is an abandoned business arm of the Southern Highlands Provincial Government. This is where Una bridge is located which separates Kagu/Erave Electorate from Ialibu/Pangia Electorate. The road goes through several villages such as Ita, Kolere, Karapere and reaches Koare Station. At Koare station one part of the road goes all the way to Lapongo village (located between Koare and Erave) and ends there while the other one goes all the way to Karanda Station. This portion of the road actually separates at Kalawira village and part goes and ends at Rakunapi village while the other side ends at Epabini village. Beyond Epabini and Rakunapi villages is
tropical thick jungle that goes all the way to Kerema in the Gulf Province. The current PNG Liquidified Natural Gas (LNG) project is located in this thick jungle and it is the major hub of PNG oil and gas. The Epabini village is regarded as a small station and it was once a grand home of the American Bible Mission Church where a missionary by the name of Mr. Brownman was living. He was so helpful in those days and during his time the Koare road was well cared and in superb condition. After Mr. Brownman's departure back to the USA in the
mid 1980s, the road condition deteriorated drastically. No one bothered fixing it. Those who attempted to fix the road only either trimmed the tall grass or used shovel to throw few stones to fill huge portholes. This kind of road fixing never lasted and eventually further deteriorated until to this day. However, during Mr. Roy Yaki's term of parliament he did once a while awarded contracts to some local heavy duty and equipment companies (especially Ialibu station based ones) but they did a lousy job and eventually walked off with the millions earmarked for the road rehabilitation. Even to this day (2011) the road
condition is one of impassable and difficult for normal cars to go through. These days only Toyota land cruisers and 4 by 4s are able to go through Koare road. Due to the road condition when one wants to travel from Koare station to the main centres like Mt. Hagen or Mendi, a land cruiser can take more than 5- 8 hours. The Koare people have been calling and knocking on the doors of the so-called Members of Parliament (MP) and other relevant government agencies but their calls and cries have fallen on deaf ears year-in-year-out. No one has heard the cries of the Koare people and we just hope that one day this will change. We hope that one day we will be able to reach home on paved road, if not paved at least gravel road which is smooth for cars to travel in and out and take few hours to reach the main centres. This road is the life-line of the Koare people and we need help to fix it for better
access.
