$385,000 for local schools approved - when assets sold

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 447, 4 August 1992, Page 2

$385,000 for local schools approved - when assets sold

Improvements for local schools worth $385,000 have been approved, but they could be waiting for over a year before seeing anything happen. Ohakune Primary School will have $350,000 spent on 'remodelling of accommodation' - fixing up the old block of class rooms and staff room, and Ruapehu College will have a $35,000 dust extractor installed. But both schools will have to wait their turn because, while the work is approved, the money won't be available until enough surplus Education property is sold. The college is number 198 on the

priority list and the primary school is 745th, There are 830 schools lined up for over $200 million worth of projects. "The announcement is premature in the extreme," said Ohakune Primary School principal Ellen Gould, speaking of the Prime Minister and King Country MP Jim Bolger's press release trumpeting the allocations in his electorate. "We're not complaining - we've recently had the whole school repainted outside, a dust extractor for the manual block installed, and the whole heating system is being upgraded," said Mrs Gould. "But we

will be waiting quite a while for this work to be started" The ministry aims to have all projects started by 30 June 1993. "While completion of the new works programme will depend on the sale of further surplus properties, it is pleasing to note that last year's programme backed by asset saies was successfully accomplished," said Mr Bolger in his press release. The education properties to be sold include residential properties, vacant sites, closed schools and former department office blocks and warehouses.