Pacific’s Aerial Crossroads Have

[?]ST STAGE OF NADI PROJECT NEARLY COMPLETED Pacific’s Aerial Crossroads Have Taken On Their New Look

The end is in sight for the first major stage of reconstruc of the Nadi Airport, which will equip it for the jet age.

stage, costing £2,500,000, is ly to be completed by the of this year. contracts will be called for vork costing an additional 10—which should take until complete. This second stage lude erection of new opera d administration buildings, major contract, which was last year, has involved the ng of the main north-south , which is partly concrete irtly bitumen finish, and ng it by nearly three -3 of a mile to make it about ies long. [Operation length 0 feet, actual paving length ig the safety factor is eet, and there is also a 200 r er run at the south end. ormed width is 700 feet]. . of the new construction er the sticky red clay of slds with concrete 14 inches laced over a compacted fill ch varies in depth from four jet. lis runway alone there are s of concrete in a top course ies thick.

No Disruption

was put down without dis ; normal flying schedule and ady for use by jet airliners 11 months of a start being 3n the site.

In addition, to serve the main runway lights, 35 miles of cable have been laid underground in three circuits —so that only one light in three should fail if something goes wrong.

Another six and a half miles of cabling is in progress for the 7,100 foot east-west secondary runway, which is part of the initial contract to be finished this year.

Work is now being pushed ahead on this, together with the build ing of the paved terminal and apron areas—all of this alsp is to be carried out without disruption to flying.

Work on the secondary runway involves placing a six inch layer of concrete over about 4,200 feet of the existing runway and surfacing the total length in bituminous concrete.

Other work to be completed by the end of the year includes things like rain drainage culverts (about three miles of them), a modern sewerage treatment plant and eight miles of main sewers, and six miles of metal fencing all around the airport. 52 Acres of Concrete Eventually, when the terminal area, parking aprons and taxi ways are all completed, there will be 52 acres of pavement concrete; and more than 250 miles of joints will have been cleaned and filled with a special compound that resists jet fuel and heat.

A modern passenger terminal building, not part of the main contract, has been erected by the Fiji Government as the main work has gone on.

Nadi airport which is about 1,300 air miles from Auckland, is of major importance to Australia and New Zealand —it is crossroads for the fast swelling volume of air traffic to the South Pacific.

The decision to enlarge it was taken by the South Pacific Air Transport Council, which passed the job on to the New Zealand Ministry of Works.

Wide Area

After the Ministry had' carried out detail designs the first stage contract of £2,500,000 was let to the British firm of Taylor Woodrow (Overseas) Ltd., in association with Messrs. D. B. Waite, of Auckland.

Regular site inspections of the contract work are carried out by the chief engineer of the NZ Ministry of Works, Mr. H. L. Hume, and the aerodrome engineer, Mr. (Over)

This is how the reconstruction work on Nadi Airport looked from the air in September The main north-south runway cuts across the picture.

Photo: Rob Wright, Fiji PRO.

i. McCulloch. At Nadi itself apartment maintains three

•ed engineers, two qualified

, engineers, with a total staff Project engineer is Mr. F. ation control of the big air as for some time been in in the New Zealand Civil n Administration, which has of about 100 appointed from ealand, under manager A. J. , of Auckland. airport’s communications net s interested in all flight in ion covering an area of four square miles, from Noumea )eete and from the Gilbert lice Islands to Norfolk Island. new Elaine Bernacchi gov it school for girls was offici ened at Tarawa on September New Zealander, Mrs. Ward, ien appointed principal.