Friday, April 20, 2012

Lae port construction beings on May 8

Work will start on the Lae port on May 8 after a meeting held in Lae on Wednesday set the scene for construction work to start on the K700 million project.
The Lae port...a very significant project.-Picture by PETER BOYD of Riback Stevedores

Independent Public Business Corporation managing director Thomas Abe said the meeting was very successful and agreed on a number of important ground rules for construction.
“Clarification of a range of issues and commitments, including employing local workers, was achieved, allowing us to set the date for the start of construction,” he said.
“The start of this project, worth more than K700 million, is very significant.
“It will make a big contribution to the development of the Momase region, particularly in the resources, industrial and agricultural sectors.”
Present at the meeting were representatives of the executing agency (IPBC), contractor (China Harbour Engineering), and consultant engineers (Korean Engineering Consultant Corporation), Asian Development Bank, and PNG Ports Corporation Ltd.
The meeting was chaired by Mr Abe.
Construction work, expected to be completed in 2015, includes a tidal basin, a berth and a terminal.
Lae port is the most-important port in the country, and has become one of the busiest in the south-western Pacific as major resource projects start producing and construction of new ones begins.
It cannot meet current demand and would have become become an even greater obstacle to regional and national development without the project.
Abe said construction would create many hundreds of jobs and would provide work for local firms and sub-contractors.
“An important aspect of the pre-construction meeting was agreement by the contractor to try to maximise the use of local labor, local skills, local professionals and local companies and sub-contractors,” he said.
“This is something IPBC has been pushing very strongly, and I am happy to say that our position was viewed positively at the meeting.”

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