Council signs new roads maintenance contracts

New maintenance contracts for the city’s roads will lead to a more proactive response to pothole repairs and general maintenance.

The Council has committed to spend $29 million a year on maintaining Christchurch's roads.

The Council has awarded contracts for $29 million of work a year to three contractors to manage road maintenance in the north, central and south of the city, City Services General Manager David Adamson said.

“The new arrangements encourage contractors to take action before issues arise, particularly seasonal things like filling in potholes or clearing away fallen leaves. We’ve deliberately made it so the selected contractors have a sense of ownership of the part of the network they are responsible for, being proactive rather than waiting for complaints before acting.”

The new contracts come into effect on 1 October 2017 and cover about 1600 kilometres of road. They include core activities on the sealed areas such as pothole repairs, road sweeping, litter collection, cycleway maintenance, emergency response, and road and footpath resurfacing. They do not include mowing and weed management.

The Council awarded the north contract to City Care, covering Waimari, Fendalton, Harewood, Papanui, Innes, Burwood, Southshore and New Brighton. Higgins was successful for the southern area, extending to Riccarton, Hornby, Spreydon, Halswell, Cashmere, Heathcote and Linwood. Maintenance in the central city area will be done by HEB.

“This balance of contractors provides the people of Christchurch with greater access to a wider range of resources, the ability to benchmark performance and also should deliver greater opportunities for innovation,” Mr Adamson said.

“The contractors have been through a rigorous process of open tender with a subsequent quality and price evaluation. The interest in the contracts ensured we got competitive pricing and high quality proposals from the main contractors in the local market.”

The initial agreement is for three years and, depending on the results, the contracts may be extended to five years.

The existing contract for Banks Peninsula is due to expire in 2020.

People can report roading maintenance matters through the customer centre, 941 8999, email info@ccc.govt.nz or by using the Snap Send Solve mobile app.

ENDS

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