Road Building In Thailand

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30960, 17 January 1966, Page 1

Road Building In Thailand

Thailand will become home for 15 men of the Royal New Zealand Engineers and the Royal New Zealand Electrical and Mechanical Engineers who, with their families, left Whenuapai on January 11 and will arrive in north-east Thailand on January 18 after a brief stop in Singapore.

The New Zealand sappers will help Thai engineers construct about 106 miles of road through a sector from Borabu to Buriram, a task which will

require them to shift some 10,000 cubic yards of spoil.

Code-named the Feeder Roads Project, the construction programme has been arranged under the Colombo Plan agreement between the Thai and New Zealand Governments. Before the group left Whenuapai, the chief engineer, Lieutenant-Colonel K. Fenton, read a farewell message from the Chief of the General Staff, Major-General W .S. McKinnon. “The work you are to carry out will not only be of great value to the local inhabitants but could of considerable consequence in the defence planning of the Far East theatre,” he said. “Aryy engineers in the Bri-

tish Commonwealth have been notable for the contribution they have made to improving undeveloped areas and your task is very much in keeping with these traditions of your corps.” Major-General McKinnon complimented the work of the New Zealand Engineers which, he said, was of a very high standard. The New Zealanders will live in a town with a population of 40,000 about 15 miles from their task headquarters. The servicemen shown with their families are, from left. Captain J. N. Rich (Christchurch), Captain R. K. Rutherford (Auckland), Sergeant D. J. Powley (Invercargill), and Sergeant N. Pouwhare