Cyclone Gabrielle: Hawke's Bay Orchardists Still Recovering
Three and a half years on from when Cyclone Gabrielle hit Hawke's Bay, some orchardists in the region are still receiving counselling to help them deal with the trauma they suffered.
The minister has announced that the Government will do all it can to re-open the road, yet Waka Kotahi (a large part of the minister’s portfolio of responsibilities) is telling us it will more than likely be after next Christmas before the road is opened and that a temporary access through this area is not an option.
This is just not true!!
One of New Zealand’s largest earthmoving contractors, which has completed many contracts both nationally and internationally, approached Waka Kotahi soon after the slip occurred, with a credible, viable and detailed proposal to put in a temporary access round the slip area and at the same time they would form a working platform to allow remedial works on the slip area to begin from that platform.
The contractor had commitments for: the entire infrastructure needed to complete this temporary access road to be made available; aggregate resources supply; cartage both from and to the site; and the staff with many years of practical experience to allow them to complete this job.
Yet what have we seen from Waka Kotahi?
Commitments to have the road open sometime next year. And the manager of this project going off on holiday for a couple of weeks when residents and businesspeople from the peninsula are desperate to find a way to get this road open to prevent their region dying.
I suspect the Waka may have some rot in its hull and this is causing it to slowly sink. Like every case of rot setting in, the first remedy is to get it opened and let the sun in and then to take all required remedial measures needed due to the prevailing rot found.
The contractor has assured me that their proposal was easily do-able, and they were not measuring their completion time in months or next year but were talking about having a temporary road open in three to four weeks!
So why have we not heard anything of this proposal?
Has Waka Kotahi looked at it and rejected it out of hand, and if this is the case, on what basis have they made this judgment?
It’s time Waka Kotahi came out and told us why it has rejected this proposal and who was responsible for making that decision.
In my honest opinion, these contractors would have more knowledge of the practicalities of large earthmoving jobs than Waka Kotahi and their history of successful completions both nationally and internationally over many years backs up this claim.
If the minister thinks that it is acceptable to take a “minimum of two months” to reply to a letter related to such a serious issue, then he is failing in his duties as the minister and I am sure there will be many on the Coromandel Peninsula that will be prepared to tell him so.
It is time that Waka Kotahi was made to explain just why it is not possible (in their opinion) to provide a temporary access road round this slip site.
Let’s open it up to the sunlight and stop the rot setting in and the Waka sinking.
Andy Loader is Co-chairman of P.L.U.G. (Primary Land Users Group)
