15 Oct 2013

Second camp to be built in PNG to house Australia's asylum seekers

4:39 pm on 15 October 2013

A second camp to house Australia's asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea is to be built on Manus Island.

The Post Courier reports the centre will be built near the provincial capital, Lorengau, as soon as the PNG government finalises the transfer of land title.

The paper says this information was in a fact sheet from the Australian High Commission detailing the economic benefits Manus could expect from the Australian government.

The camp is expected to employ up to 230 PNG citizens, including 160 from Manus.

The current Manus camp, which houses about 700 asylum seekers, employs more than 400 PNG citizens, the majority of whom are from Manus.

81 percent of staff employed by the Australian firm providing security at the camp, G4S, and its sub-contractors are PNG citizens.

The involvement of local businesses and local employment is expected to increase with the expansion, with the construction sub-contract work worth about 92 million US dollars.