More Work For Private

Contractors In P-Ng

From Our Own Correspondent

Port Moresby, Jan. 23.

IT pleases P-NG citizens that the Commonwealth Works Depart ment at Port Moresby is now switching construction jobs from “day labour” to contract. In the Department’s phraseology “day labour” means work done by the department’s own workmen. But the policy now is to call tenders and let out as much work as pos sible to private contractors.

Contract jobs already in progress or slated for early attention, in clude the Port Moresby and Madang wharves, the Markham River Bridge, Samarai wharf (now 99 per cent, complete), a wharf head and small ships jetties at Kavieng, Rouna hydro-electric scheme for Port Moresby and the new Rabaul wharf.

It will be sometime before much road construction can be done by private contractors in the Terri tory, since very few, if any, have the necessary heavy equipment for such jobs.

It is hoped that the elimination of unnecessary day labour jobs will cut costs but one bottleneck which has to be overcome is lack of techni

cal staff at Port Moresby to pre pare the plans and specifications of jobs for contractors, and lack of office space for the extra staff. The Department now has a departmental allocation of £15,000 for office ex tensions.

The Governor of Fiji appointed Lt. Commander G. R. Woods, FRNVR, Lt. R.J.B. Ackland, FMF, Ft. Lt, G. C. Benseman, RNZAF, and Jioji Suguturaga, Acting In spector of Police, to be Honorary Aides-de-Camp.