Build up in PNG DPR/TV/308

Army engineers are forging ahead with a construction programme in the Port Moresby area, which is part of the current Army expansion and reorganisation in Australia and Papua New Guinea. Forty two officers and men of a construction troop from 17 Construction Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers, are building 30 prefabricated huts to house Army stores until permanent buildings are erected. An overall view of the construction site near the Headquarters of Papua New Guinea Command shows some of the equipment gathered for the works programme. Before construction can start the area is surveyed and pegged. Then after foundation trenches have been dug, the cement trucks move in and pour out their cargo. Local labourers who are employed on the project help with the cement work under supervision of the Australian Sappers. The prefabricated parts are set up and the holding bolts tightened. Roof stays go up and crane moves in with the prefabricated roofing sections. The roofs go on and the buildings are almost complete. The work being carried out by the engineers is the forerunner to a 12 million Pound Army works project in Papua New Guinea that is scheduled for completion by 1968.