I reckon we do. Because we have another example today of what happens when you rely on governments and individual organisations to run big infrastructure projects.
So think of all the drama over the new stadium in Christchurch. Think of all the money wasted on the Auckland Harbour Bridge cycleway that went absolutely nowhere. The City Rail Link blow-outs. KiwiBuild.
You name any big infrastructure project in recent times and it seems that we have just become hopeless at doing stuff we used to be brilliant at.
So the latest example that we’re hearing about is the big Scott Base rebuild. Which has been put on hold because the Government and Antarctica New Zealand can’t agree on a deal with the contractor.
What’s happened with this particular project, is Antarctica New Zealand got just over $500 million from the New Zealand Government to rebuild Scott Base.
But, as always happens with these things, the cost of the whole thing has headed northwards and they haven’t been able to come to an agreement with the contractor.
This is Leigh's Construction, by the way. A very successful Christchurch-based outfit, which really came into its own after the earthquakes.
And it is the preferred contractor for the work. Which involves the new structures for the base being built in Timaru and eventually being shipped down to Antarctica.
And the reason this work is all happening in the first place, is because Antarctica New Zealand wants to make sure it’s set-up for research work at Scott Base for the next 50 years. So it’s come up with this plan for three new inter-connected buildings and to upgrade the wind farm down there.
I do get the sense that maybe they’ve done the usual thing and gone for the gold-plated option and told themselves that they’ll make it work come hell or high water.
But that wing-and-a-prayer approach doesn’t seem to be working and we’re finding out today that things have come to a halt. And they’re going to do a review - not exactly sure yet what that’s going to involve - but it is going to be done by internal and external experts.
Which, as you and I know, will involve more money.
It's amazing that work even started in the first place without an agreed contract. Which is why I reckon these big public projects need to be run by an outfit that knows how to run these kinds of things. An outfit like the Ministry of Works.
Because, back in its day, the MOW did all sorts of stuff. It built railway lines, tunnels, hydro dams, motorways. It was also involved in other things like airport developments.
It was originally known as the Department of Public Works. Eventually it became the Ministry of Works. And it operated from 1870 until 1993 - when Jim Bolger’s National government dished out its policy work to other government departments and created a new State-Owned Enterprise, with two divisions: Works Consultancy Services and Works Civil Construction.
Three years later they were sold off and that was the final chapter in the Ministry of Works story. But who says it couldn’t make a comeback?
Because, when you think about it, it is crazy that we expect the likes of Antarctica New Zealand to run its project and do all the negotiating and procuring. Then we expect every other outfit using public money to do the same with their big projects. All working in complete isolation from each other.
We’ve got Waka Kotahi doing the roads. We’ve got Transpower doing all the electricity infrastructure stuff. We’ve got local councils doing their thing. And we’ve got outfits like Antarctica New Zealand and the government running the big Scott Base rebuild project.
But if we had something like the old Ministry of Works, that could all be co-ordinated. I’m not saying it would be free of political interference. That would be impossible.
But how many more examples do you need, to show that we have lost our way when it comes to big infrastructure?
Waka Kotahi is a prime example of an outfit trying to do too much and failing. Imagine if its job was just the road safety stuff and we had another nationwide infrastructure agency building and maintaining the roads.
Building all the state houses the government wants to build. Building new motorways. And, yes, even building the new base in Antarctica.
John MacDonald is the Canterbury Mornings host on Newstalk ZB Christchurch. This article was first published HERE
You name any big infrastructure project in recent times and it seems that we have just become hopeless at doing stuff we used to be brilliant at.
So the latest example that we’re hearing about is the big Scott Base rebuild. Which has been put on hold because the Government and Antarctica New Zealand can’t agree on a deal with the contractor.
What’s happened with this particular project, is Antarctica New Zealand got just over $500 million from the New Zealand Government to rebuild Scott Base.
But, as always happens with these things, the cost of the whole thing has headed northwards and they haven’t been able to come to an agreement with the contractor.
This is Leigh's Construction, by the way. A very successful Christchurch-based outfit, which really came into its own after the earthquakes.
And it is the preferred contractor for the work. Which involves the new structures for the base being built in Timaru and eventually being shipped down to Antarctica.
And the reason this work is all happening in the first place, is because Antarctica New Zealand wants to make sure it’s set-up for research work at Scott Base for the next 50 years. So it’s come up with this plan for three new inter-connected buildings and to upgrade the wind farm down there.
I do get the sense that maybe they’ve done the usual thing and gone for the gold-plated option and told themselves that they’ll make it work come hell or high water.
But that wing-and-a-prayer approach doesn’t seem to be working and we’re finding out today that things have come to a halt. And they’re going to do a review - not exactly sure yet what that’s going to involve - but it is going to be done by internal and external experts.
Which, as you and I know, will involve more money.
It's amazing that work even started in the first place without an agreed contract. Which is why I reckon these big public projects need to be run by an outfit that knows how to run these kinds of things. An outfit like the Ministry of Works.
Because, back in its day, the MOW did all sorts of stuff. It built railway lines, tunnels, hydro dams, motorways. It was also involved in other things like airport developments.
It was originally known as the Department of Public Works. Eventually it became the Ministry of Works. And it operated from 1870 until 1993 - when Jim Bolger’s National government dished out its policy work to other government departments and created a new State-Owned Enterprise, with two divisions: Works Consultancy Services and Works Civil Construction.
Three years later they were sold off and that was the final chapter in the Ministry of Works story. But who says it couldn’t make a comeback?
Because, when you think about it, it is crazy that we expect the likes of Antarctica New Zealand to run its project and do all the negotiating and procuring. Then we expect every other outfit using public money to do the same with their big projects. All working in complete isolation from each other.
We’ve got Waka Kotahi doing the roads. We’ve got Transpower doing all the electricity infrastructure stuff. We’ve got local councils doing their thing. And we’ve got outfits like Antarctica New Zealand and the government running the big Scott Base rebuild project.
But if we had something like the old Ministry of Works, that could all be co-ordinated. I’m not saying it would be free of political interference. That would be impossible.
But how many more examples do you need, to show that we have lost our way when it comes to big infrastructure?
Waka Kotahi is a prime example of an outfit trying to do too much and failing. Imagine if its job was just the road safety stuff and we had another nationwide infrastructure agency building and maintaining the roads.
Building all the state houses the government wants to build. Building new motorways. And, yes, even building the new base in Antarctica.
John MacDonald is the Canterbury Mornings host on Newstalk ZB Christchurch. This article was first published HERE
4 comments:
The Ministry of Works was still a government department, John.
It was disestablished just as all this woke, preferment crap was getting under way and attitudes were different.
Look at all the new Ministries set up by this Labour government. What have they achieved? Spent shitloads for little or no return.
I suspect a modern-day MOW would turn out just the same. You've got your rose-tinted glasses on. And did you actually check on the actual versus budget cost of some of those wonderful MOW projects?
I understand what you are saying John. When the pot hole saga gained momentum I thought of the motorways out of Wellington to Porirua and Upper Hutt. They must be about 70+ years old now --you never see pot holes in them or patch ups to fill in holes. I suspect a similar comment could be made about the original Auckland motor ways.
But the old Ministry of Works who designed and built some wonderful, long lasting projects (eg. the big dams) would have been staffed ,especially on the engineering side ,by people who really believed in "public service" and also they were probably the best to come out of the universities at the time (when the universities had some really high standards) because there would have been limited job opportunities in the private sector at the time in NZ. That doesn't apply today.
Yes but...if we had a MOW who had experience and clout to insist on the right product (e.g. bitumen) for the right result (i.e. roads with no potholes) instead of Contractors like...insert any large contractor...who will go for a large contract price and cheap bitumen, perhaps the MOW might still work better.
Or you can just be negative and say NZ is a hopeless case.
MC
I'm glad you have mentioned old World public service Rose, which was the environment I was brought up in since my father worked in the Ministry of Works and we lived on dam sites, near construction train tunnels, near motorways being built etc. This public service mentality related to a strong desire to help build up society. Acquiring a large salary was secondary.
Those were the days when NZ was more egalitarian, personal greed was less common and there was more efficiency.
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