Australia will construct three new state-of-the-art armouries at a cost of more than $2 million for the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF).

Defence Minister Robert Hill made the announcement recently after meeting with Papua New Guinea Defence Minister Kappa Yarka.

The armouries will be located at Igam Barracks at Lae, Moem Barracks at Wewak and at the PNGDF patrol boat base on Manus Island.

They will be similar to three armouries constructed for the PNGDF in Port Moresby earlier this year.

The new armouries are part of the Defence Cooperation Program between Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) that covers a wide range of activities including training, combined exercises, facilities development and high level talks.

Construction of the armouries will be managed by ADF engineers and will, in addition to providing enhanced weapons security for the PNGDF, further develop valuable project management skills for the ADF.

Local PNG construction companies will be contracted to build the armouries which should be completed by May 2003.

.