Papua New Guinea has announced that it will more than double the size of its military within four years as part of a modernisation process.
The defence minister, Fabian Pok , says Defence Force personnel numbers will go from 2,000 now to 5,000.
The minister has told the newspaper, The National, that the expansion is linked to relocating the Murray Barracks, admitting that the government is still searching for suitable land.
Last year, Mr Pok announced that the military would be increased five fold to 10,000 troops as part of efforts to use soldiers for infrastructure work currently being done by costly contractors.
