7 March 2016

EQC hiding another botch up

An email from a senior manager at EQC admits the commission needs to re-inspect many damaged drainage pipes because initial inspections were “of variable quality”, despite no mention of these concerns in EQC’s press release announcing the move, says Labour’s Canterbury spokesperson Megan Woods.

“EQC has been a mess for years and thousands of repairs have already had to be redone. Today, we learn that the commission is going to start re-inspecting earthquake damaged drainpipes.

“The Government is trying to trumpet this as a proactive move. But an email from a senior manager reveals the work is being done because initial inspections were dodgy.

“In the letter to stakeholders, obtained by Labour, a senior manager at EQC has admitted this work is ‘done due to the fact that drainage inspections and assessments since the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes have been of variable quality.’ There is no mention of these quality concerns in EQC’s press release announcing the re-inspections.

“People in Canterbury will be disturbed to see senior figures at EQC telling stakeholders one thing, and the public another.

“We’ve already seen thousands of Cantabrians have to go through the EQC process twice because of dodgy repairs. Now we learn EQC isn’t even confident in many of the inspections its own workers have carried out.

“People in Canterbury have been calling for months for an independent inquiry into EQC but Gerry Brownlee has been blocking them. This latest botch up should finally compel the Minister to sort things out,” says Megan Woods.

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