WORK on Nowra’s jail has begun.

Contractors this week started erecting the perimeter chain link fence to secure the South Coast Correctional Facility site.

The most publicly visual section of the project started with a section of the three-kilometre perimeter fence erected parallel to the Princes Highway at South Nowra.

The builder, Richard Crookes Constructions, is currently surveying the site and work will soon commence on clearing trees to create the entry road onto the site for a building compound.

Department of Commerce project manager Lindsay Charles said the aim of the fence that motorists have noticed was to secure the work site but was designed to be permanent.

“The next major step is site clearing and earthwork, but that will be going on in the centre of the site.

“From the road you will see very little,” she said.

“It’s not a heavy machinery phase, we are still talking with council about what work needs to be done on access before the road starts taking the heavy traffic.

“This is the beginning and we’re expecting construction to take about two years.

“We are going to start doing a quarterly newsletter to keep the residents up to date,” she said.