A Fair Share for Christchurch

“The government is lowering the standards for the repair of Christchurch's fresh water, sewage, storm water, and roading systems (collectively known as horizontal infrastructure),” says John Ring, Democrats for Social Credit candidate for Wigram.

“When the cost sharing agreement between the government and the Christchurch City Council was signed, there was a $300 million difference between what the council thought it would cost to repair the horizontal infrastructure and what the government thought it would cost, but the council's negotiators agreed to the government figures because there is to be a review of the costs in December of this year, and the negotiators thought the government would agree to the higher figure then.

“Since then the KordaMentha report has found that the real costs of repairing the horizontal infrastructure are higher than the council thought.

“The committee that makes the decisions about repairs to horizontal infrastructure has representatives from CERA, Transit New Zealand, and the council, so government agencies outvote the council, and since the KordaMentha report came out, they have been told to cut costs, and the government has set new slacker standards for what they are supposed to do.

“The proper way of repairing a damaged water supply network is to fix a leak whenever you find one. Instead the standard is to make sure no more than a certain percentage of the water supply is lost due to leaks, and if it's under that percentage leaks won't be fixed.

“Similarly, roads won't be properly repaired.

“The government agreed to pay 60% of the repair costs, and Democrats for Social Credit have said that if elected we will stick to that percentage.

“Paying for 60% of less than 100% is not paying for 60%, said Mr Ring. “The government is not honouring its promises.”

ENDS

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