DIOCESE OF AITAPE CHURCH BUILDING PROGRAM

	News report No. 23 February 2004 Diocese of Aitape P O Box 179 Aitape Sandaun Province Papua New Guinea Ph +675 8572046 fax +675 8572056
Aitape Haus Lotu Projects

Introduction:

Welcome to the second report for 2004.
This is the twenty their report on the Church Building program for the month of February.
In 2002, we established agreements with all of the sub parishes, then work started at Amu.
In 2003, we collected gravel for Arop 1, Arop2 and Pou; began site work at Arop1 and Pou, and the welding of the steel frames for Arop2; at Amu we completed the roof and the concrete floor; at Barapu completed the ground works; and began the design of Barapu and Sissano.

This year work resumed at Amu on the concreting, and Pou with the sawmill. Later after a court case over the Arop and Pou gravel, work resumed at the end of January at the Arop1 and Pou sites, and discussions on a new road link for Arop2.

Photo 1:Arop1 church purlins. This photo shows the Arop1 church, with all of the posts, rafters and purlins in place, and some of the roofing delivered to the site.

Photo 2:This is a photo of the terrain between Arop1 and 2 where we propose to build a new road. The route is 2.2km long and 1km of this cuts through a swamp. A report was submitted to local government, funding approved, and plans made to survey crops to begin next month once funds arrive.

Barapu Church: The Barapu church was designed with the help of Hulamarie Partners in Lae. The church is 45 metres wide, is 31m long, and is 21 metres to the middle ridge cap. It has three layers of roof supported by 24m long clear span steel trusses. There are six towers at the front, the tallest is 27m. The seating capacity is 1100 people.