The process of establishing a new Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) 3rd Infantry Battalion base has been set into motion with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) this week between the Hela provincial government and the Commander of Defence Force (CDF). The first phase of this massive project is the construction of a Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Tari Town with work already underway on the 100-men forward base and should be ready in September this year. Hela Governor, Phillip Undialu said this would maintain law and order and ensure security for the massive PNG LNG project. “The idea of establishing a forward base and the third battalion is already captured in the Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) three and in that plan it was approved.” “Therefore, the Hela provincial government executive council has endorsed implementation of that with commitment and on the other side the defence council has also approved to partner us so this occasion brings together both parties, the defence council and Hela provincial government executive council decision to implement a government policy under the MTDP.” “From this we will forward combined submissions to cabinet, cabinet then will direct financial commitments. It’s a five to ten year program we are doing and the ongoing funding of K5million under the development budget is already been funded and they utilize that to do feasibility, design and scope and so forth, and now we are broadening the scope to actual implementation. “The first phase under the MoA is to establish a forward base operation centre in Tari. Hela provincial government is committing what used to be Hela Tech and we are committing K300, 000 for immediate refurbishment,” said he governor. “For the long term we are committing K5million for ten years under our ongoing finance, so that’s a total of K50million commitment from us. The MoA will also go long way in terms of cutting costs for the defence organisation. Defence Minister, Saki Soloma, said the cost of transporting troops to the province or the highland region, cost the army thousands of Kina during any call out, but the establishment of a permanent base will solve this financial matter, especially with accommodation and transport costs. CDF Major General Gilbert Toropo thanked the governor and his administration for this important partnership because of the strategic advantage of the new base. “Most of our operations are conducted up in the highlands and it is very costly to mobilize and keep troops during call outs up in the highlands, so this is a strategic and deliberate move to establish a third battalion in Hela province.” “That base will also look after the central part of our PNG/Indonesia border,” said Commander Toropo. Meanwhile, the actual 3rd Infantry Battalion base will take five to ten years to complete, but for now the forward base will accommodate troops on rotation to Hela province and the highlands region. PNGFM/PNGfacts Next :NALI: HIGHLANDS HIGHWAY PROJECT WILL STILL BE COMPLETED ON TIME Comments are closed.
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