New Zealand army engineers are to help the Papua New Guinea Defence Force to build a new road connecting the coastal city of Madang with Mt Hagen in Western Highlands.
The PNGDF commander, Brigadier-General Francis Agwi, says he had sought New Zealand's help during visits from New Zealand's chief of the Defence Force, Lieutenant General Rhys Jones and the then chief of the Army, Major General Tim Keating, in 2011 and last year.
The Post Courier reports that as a result of these requests, a four-men team of New Zealand Army engineering and medical personnel visited the area last month and conducted a detailed analysis of the planned project.
The New Zealand defence advisor at the High Commission in Port Moresby, Lieutenant Colonel Nick Ang, told the paper there will be a series of deployments by specialist teams such as plant maintenance personnel, road project planners and plant operators.
The first personnel should on the ground at the end of August with further deployments to be staged at intervals throughout the project.
