Pipiriki Road answers sought

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 664, 26 November 1996, Page 4

Pipiriki Road answers sought

• Through your pages, can anyone answer my questions? What the heck is happening on the Pipiriki Road, from Waipuna corner down to the steel bailey bridge near Alan Ritche's place. Last season a roading project was started. There appeared to be three outfits digging up the road (in stages) and it seemed there was progress. The rains came and two outfits left, the third outfit although smaller in size seem to plod along during winter close to Raetihi. Winter rains came and went. An outfit appeared working the middle area of Pipiriki Rd. The outfit that seemed to plod along during the rains now also back in full force. While the sun shone these two outfits between Raetihi and

up to Waipuna corner appeared once again to be getting on with the job.

All fine and dandy? Wrong! The outfit that worked from Waipuna comer onwards last' season after some delays finally reappeared. There seemed to be some problems — start, stop, stop, start. And lo and behold work began for a whole four or five days, then in a blink of an eye, work stopped, machines parked up and the outfit gone once again amid gossip and rumours of: Council breach of contract; outfit breach of contract; breach of start dates; breach of finish dates; either taking the other to court depending on which rumours you hear first; breaches of contract payments; breaches of actual work progress on site. Also, there are rumours of there being no actual plans for this piece of road, just letting the contractor reinvent the road as they go. Could someone please enlighten Joe Public with the

truth of what is actually going on? I am not well-disposed toward driving my recycled plastic import up and down this section of road through another winter. If there are problems on-going, sort them later, just get the contractors back on the job please. I wonder if we are looking at yet another council project gone ballistic with public money. Douglas Govan Ruapehu District Council chief executive officer Cliff Houston replies: The Pipiriki Road upgrading consists of four distinct contracts - two contracts for the rehabilitation of the existing sealed section and two contracts for the seal extension. Of those four contracts, three have been let, two in November 1995 and one in October 1996. Council operates according to the Competitive Pricing ProcedureofTransfund (previouslyTransitNewZealand) as a means of ensuring a fair and open tender system. For this reason, there are and could be, different contractors for the various contracts for the Pipiriki Road upgrade. The first rehabilitation contract concentrated on the corners and sections of Pipiriki Road that are the most difficult to negotiate by heavy vehicles. The second rehabilitation contract, awarded in October 1996, is to link up those sections not addressed by the first contract. Due to the poor weather, the contracts let in November 1995 were not completed prior to the winter of 1996 and work on both contracts is continuing. The first seal extension contract is for the section from the Waipuna Road intersection to the steel bridge at Mr Ritchfield's property. This seal extension contract is causing frustration for all interested parties and Council is aware of the frustration and irritation the lack of progress on the work has caused. Major contractual complications are being encountered in the eXecutiOn of this contract and Council is presently involved in ongoing arbitration so further comment or discussion at this point is inappropriate, although the public can be assured that the Council is taking all necessary steps to ensure completion of the work. The second seal extension contract will be from the bridge to the intersection with Huikumu Road. This contract will be tendered shortly. Cliff Houston, chief executive