Nadi's £2½ Million

Face Lift

The announcement in mid-May that the £Stg.2£ million contract to lengthen and strengthen the two runways at Nadi Inter national airport, Fiji, had been let, did not find the successful tenderers on the wrong foot: They were expecting machinery to do the job to arrive from the UK within three weeks; and expected to be shifting the first of the 500,000 cubic yards of earth involved before the end of May.

The contractors are the UK firm of Taylor, Woodrow (Overseas), Ltd., in asso ciation with an Auckland (NZ) firm, D.

B. Waite, Ltd.

One Nadi runway is to be lengthened over 3,000 ft. (to 10,700 ft.) and the other strengthened and repaved. There is also a control tower and other buildings to be built.

One hundred three-room houses will be taken to Fiji and set up for the work men.

The work is being done to cater for the jet aircraft which will be on the Pacific service at the end of 1959 but most of the concreting work is expected to be finished by the end of this year.

Some disruption may occur to existing air services at some stage during recon struction —but the airline operators are "keeping the matter under review".

The contractors have announced their intention of using only British - made machines on the job—those people who "buy Yankee", please note.