Abbott lauds Aust firm

 By MALUM NALU
ENGINEERING company Curtain Brothers is a classic example of the business cooperation that can exist between Australia and Papua New Guinea, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.
He said this when he visited the site of the new Motukea Island international wharf, which opened in November 2010 and had already shown its potential as a dockyard and by handling the massive cargo required for the PNG LNG plant outside Port Moresby.
It is understood that talks are already in the pipeline for the Australian Navy and Australian commercial shipping to use Motukea as a dockyard.
It is owned by Australian businessman Sir Mick Curtain.
“This is a very sophisticated facility, a very impressive facility,” Abbott told reporters on Motukea on Saturday.
“I’ve seen the extensive dry docking and ship repair facilities that are here on this island.
I understand that quite an amount of work for the US$19 billion (K46 billion) PNG LNG project would be done here.
“I think the people of PNG can be very proud of this facility and I think the people of Australian should be very proud of this facility.
“This is a very sophisticated engineering work here in PNG being operated by an Australian.”
Abbott said Motukea exemplified the magnificent work that had been done by Curtain Brothers for decades in PNG.