A dam fine job

by Tony Fitzgerald from Julalikari CDEP

The Dam project is a joint venture between the Town Council, Lands Planning and Environment, Transport and Works and Julalikari Council C.D.E.P. The project is designed to provide a bit more shade at the top section of the Dam and to prevent cars from driving through into the BBQ areas, which destroys the lawns there and makes it a less pleasant place to sit.
It will be opened by the Governor General, when he comes to Tennant Creek for the Town Council's 'Towards 2000' Conference.
The carpark is covered at the moment with all sorts of rubble but it will be cleared soon and people will be able to park there again. We'll also put in some garden beds and paving. There'll be lots of trees planted - shade trees, and the only tree that will come out is a dead tree that's in the carpark and perhaps another which is struggling.
We hope to be finished by the first week in September. The bulk of the work is in the walls and there is some paving to be done. Once the walls are done it will all happen pretty quickly from then.
C.D.E.P. workers are on the job but none of them are trainees as such and none of them have had any experience in block-wall building either. So they're certainly gaining new skills and the walls are looking pretty dam good if you ask me.
Stephen Gummow, site supervisor has high praise for his workers. "I tell you what, we have to whip them to get them off the site at knock-off time. They just won't stop, I don't know what's got into them!"
From Julalikari Council's point of view it's a nice job to have because it is highly visible, it shows what C.D.E.P. workers can do. We took the job on with a view to advertising the type of services we can provide and we hope as a result to get a few contracts locally. It's good to work with Lands, Planning and Environment and Transport and Works because it starts up a relationship with them. They have work going around all the time and C.D.E.P. would like to be in there and tendering on those projects on a commercial basis, so this project is a chance for us to show what C.D.E.P. workers are capable of.