Winstones balks at funding Pipiriki Road upgrade

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 561, 8 November 1994, Page 1

Winstones balks at funding Pipiriki Road upgrade

Winstone Pulp International has paid more than $700,000 in rates in recent years and should not be expected to contribute toward the cost of up-grading Pipiriki Road, according to company chief executive Dave Anderson. Winstones plan to begin logging the Waimarino Forest which will result in progressively increased traffic over the next few years. The Ruapehu District Council has applied for a Transit New Zealand subsidy which it hopes will pay for 58 per cent of the estimated $1.7 million dollar upgrade and has asked Winstones to pay the balance. However Mr Anderson said over the past 17 years Winstones had received very little in return for the rates it had paid and had been only a minor road user. "The Council has not maintained Pipiriki Road but now we are about to harvest we are being asked to help rebuild it," he said. Pipiriki Road is a main route for agricultural, tourist and general service traffic to Pipiriki township. The metalled section of the road has been allowed to deteriorate to a point where it is extremely difficult for existing heavy traffic during winter months. "If the Council had invested our $700,000 rating monies it would now have well over a million dollars to invest in Turn to Page 2

Pipiriki Rd From Page 1 the road," he said. Mr Anderson said Winstones contribute a lot to the local economy. "Eleven million dollars annually in wages alone and that doesn't include the major contractors and forestry gangs which probably account for a further $6 million." Winstones is considering the cost effectiveness of linking two internal forestry roads to come out onto Mangaturoa Road. This would bypass 10km of Pipiriki Road and would mean using just 6kms of public road.