SEALING BOROUGH ROADS

Taupo Times, Volume III, Issue 144, 29 October 1954, Page 4

SEALING BOROUGH ROADS

AS reported in this issue of the "Times," the Borough Councii proposes to apply to the Local Government Loans Board for approval of a loan of £10,000, for the purchase of machinery and the sealing of Borough roads. The matter of road sealing was first before the Councii at its December meeting last year, and at the meeting of February 17 last the roads that might be first attended to were listed as being Kaimanawa Street from the Lake front to the Spa Road; Rifle Range Road from the Lake front to Taharepa Road; Pataka Road from the Lake front to Kurupae Road; Waipahihi Avenue to Ngamotu Street; Heuheu Street from Ruapehu Street to Mere Road, and Mere Road through to the Lake Front Highway. In addition the sealing of the east-west streets already commenced in the business area was to be completed eastward to Kaimanawa Street, and of Ruapehu Street to the Spa Road. The February meeting also discussed the matter of machinery being purchased to enable the Councii staff to carry out the work, a method which experience with the sealing of portions of the roads in the business area had indicated was likely to be substantially cheaper than having the work done by contract. The dry weather of recent weeks, coming earlier than last year by several weeks, has already emphasised, with its clouds of dust, the

need for something being done to reduce the dust menace which last summer reached proportions that could be said seriously to imperil Taupo's reputation as a holiday resort. There should be no objection by ratepayers to thq raising of the proposed loan. The present loan proposal is to enable a start to be made with the sealing plan referred to above, the final cost of which has been placed at some £28,000. There is a possibility that the actual cost of the full plan of work may not, however, necessitate the raising of that amount by loans, in view of the fact that the Councii is applying to the National Roads Board for a grant toward the cost of Borough roading. Whether such a grant will be made remains to be seen, but there appear to be grounds for believing that it may be, on the principle that the large numbers of tourists and visitors using the Borough roads, as a result of the town's character as a holiday resort, justify some contribution, from Government funds. Based on a twenty year term, the proposed loan of £10,000 would require a rate of three-eighths of a penny in the pound on the present rateable value (unimproved). On a ten year term, the rate would be five-eighths of a penny, and it is probable that the Loans Board may require the shorter term for a loan for such a purpose as road sealing.