Turoa in chains for five years

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 564, 29 November 1994, Page 1

Turoa in chains for five years

Turoa is to have sole rights to hire and fit chains on the Ohakune Mountain Road for the next five years, with the right of renewal for a further five years, the Ruapehu District Council has decided. In return the ski field will construct new chain fitting bays on the mountain road. The council made their decision last Friday, accepting the recommendation of the chief engineer Bruce Dobson. "This is a way to, A, get the chain fitting bays that are needed on the mountain road and, B, to get a lot smoother . and safer chain fitting operation on the mountain road," said Mr Dobson. He said the five-year period would give the ski field operators "ample time" to recoup the cost of forming the chain fitting car parks. Turoa was also awarded the contract for traffic management on the mountain road for a further three years. Mr Dobson said problems on the road in winter were: • Insufficient chain fitting bays for busy conditions. • Chain fitting operators working at different locations. • Conflict between traffic going up hill and traffic going down hill because of the parking by people on the road side obstructing one of the lanes.

He said the problems were discussed at the last

Ohakune Mountain Road Committee meeting and

that the following changes were considered desirable: ^

• There should be one operator responsible for both traffic con-

trol and chain fitting. • The contractor should

be responsible for construction of ^

additional chain ^

fit-

ting bays. • The contract period should be for at least five years with a five year right of renewal to enable the contractor to budget for capital expenditure on the acquisition of chains and on the construction of chain fitting bays, with a right of renewal for a further period of 5 years. Anti-competitive

"While this may appear anticompetitive it is consid-

ered to be the best option because Turoa would have

an interest in keeping the chain hiring and fitting

rates reasonable to make a day's skiing af-

fordable; new chain fitting bays would

be constructed at no cost to Council:

Turoa have a strong interest in

ensurine the whole ODeration

runs well and safely,"

stated Mr Dobson.