Elderly housing rebuilds to cost over $3m
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
The timing of the demolition and rebuild of elderly housing units in Ashburton will be known once the contract is finalised.
BP Construction Limited has been selected as the preferred contractor to demolish and redevelop 16 units at Friendship Lane for the tendered price of $3,073,668 plus GST.
The council’s business support group manager, Leanne Macdonald, said the detail of the timeline for the two stage project, with eight units demolished and rebuilt at a time, is being developed.
“We will be able to share more information about the tender process once the finer details of the contract have been formally agreed by council and BP Construction Limited.
“The Friendship Lane units are of a design that no longer complied with the recent changes in Healthy Homes Legislation and so were a priority to upgrade.”
The remaining units at Friendship Lane comply with legislation and no future work is programmed in the draft long-term plan, Macdonald said.
The $3m project is being funded by a “range of streams”, including external funding, a previous property sale, and loan funding.
There are already nine vacant units at Friendship Lane, clearing the way for stage one to begin, pending funding applications and contract negotiations.
“As we refurbish vacant units in our district, we will work with any existing tenants impacted by this project to be relocated within the timeframe that is yet to be determined.”
The nine units have been vacant for some time, one since August 2021.
The 16 units are part of the council’s 102 elderly housing units, available for people over 65 years of age across six complexes spread throughout Ashburton, Methven, and Rakaia.
A recent property activity report outlined that there are 20 applications on the waiting list, with 10 people wanting single units and 10 requesting double units (three couples and seven individuals). This does not include the seven tenants at Friendship Lane.
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Ashburton’s second bridge cost bumped up
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
The cost to build Ashburton’s second bridge has leapt to $130 million as questions remain on how it will be funded.
The council has kept its contribution at $7.5m, despite the estimated price jumping by 15% in two years.
Ashburton Council chief executive Hamish Riach provided councillors with an update on the second bridge after he recently met with Minister of Transport Simeon Brown.
The Government has made the bridge, a key State Highway 1 route in Canterbury, a national transport priority.
Minister Brown made it clear that the council would need to look for funding in the National Land Transport programme process, Riach said.
That will start with conversations between the council and NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi around “innovative funding mechanisms”.
After meeting, Riach and Mayor Neil Brown reached out to NZTA regional relationships director James Caygill about “actively getting on with those conversations with their funding people”.
The National Land Transport programme is an investment package for priority transport projects.
For a project to be included in the National Land Transport Programme it has to feature in a council’s long-term plan, Riach said.
The council has chosen to keep the $7.5m figure in its budget planning, even though the cost of the project has increased.
The business case prepared in 2022 estimated the project – a 360m-long bridge across the Ashburton/Hakatere River and new road infrastructure - would cost $113m.
An NZTA document prepared in November estimated the project will cost between $100-$200m.
A recent report from Infometrics, commissioned by Local Government New Zealand, found that over the last three years, costs have gone up significantly and bridges are 38% more expensive to build.
“We note the bridge is programmed to cost $130m and our share, at $7.5m, may or may not survive the whole funding process.
“A lot is going on in this space that is incredibly uncertain.”
The council will adopt its LTP in June – including the $7.5m figure – before knowing what the NLTP entails, Riach said.
“It makes for a messy picture for this project in our formal plans and budgets.”
The minister acknowledged the need for the bridge - easing congestion and improving safety on SH1 - and as a result, the subsidy rate “needed to reflect the improvement to the state highway network”, Riach said.
“We took from that, that a subsidy rate ahead of our normal FAR (funding assistance rate) was entirely justified.”
Rather than a 51% FAR subsidy the business case suggested a 62%, but the question remains how to fill the gap between 62% and 100%, Riach said.
Mayor Brown said the minister also spoke of the Government looking at different ways of funding roading going forward.
This included the possibility of road tolls, Riach said.
“He reiterated that it is certainly his intention to review the way in which tolling is a mechanism for funding projects a little bit later in the year.”
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No tolls without law change
Under legislation, tolls can only be placed on state highways, not on a local road, which is what the second bridge is considered to be.
It also prevents an NZTA toll from raising funds for a council project – so a toll on the existing SH1 bridge couldn’t be used to fund the new local road bridge.
A legislative change could see the possibility of introducing a toll on the existing SH1 Ashburton/Hakatere Bridge or on the second bridge to pay for the project.
There are currently only three toll roads in New Zealand – the Northern Gateway Toll Road north of Auckland, the Tauranga Eastern Link Toll Road, and the Takitimu Drive Toll Road, both in Tauranga.
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