1.
CU Sign Sistema Tunel PULL BACK TO box sections
0.10

2.
GV Box section
0.13

3.
GV Box section being swung and lowered into position by crane and workers (THREE SHOTS)
0.37

4.
SV Workers PULL BACK TO box construction with steel rods in foreground
0.45

5.
CU Workman carrying spacer section
0.53

6.
MV Gap between box sections showing steel rods and tubularised vertical steel rods
1.01

7.
GV Support structure for box sections
1.07

8.
SV Apartment building PAN DOWN TO partly bricked in areas
1.20



Initials EP/1710



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: A new construction system that has been perfected by Venezuelan engineers is helping to combat housing shortages in the country.

SYNOPSIS: The new method is known as the Tunnel System and it is being used here in the venezuelan capital, Caracas. It is cheaper faster and easier than other construction methods.

Using prefabricated sections workers can build at the rate of one storey a day. The new system is extremely adaptable and building labourers without much experience can be used because no specialised training is needed. It is a system especially important in Caracas where the present population of 2.6 million is growing by six per cent a year.

It is predicted the city population will double by the end of the century. Another problem is the lack of space. Caracas is crammed into a narrow valley with steep sides, 12 miles (20 km) long and three miles (5 km) wide.

There is also the problem of shanty town dwellers. They make up about 40 per cent of the city population and their numbers are continually swelled by rural migrants.

Now, using the Tunnel System, city planners hope that these housing problems can be solved. This apartment block, 21 storey tall, took just 21 days to complete.