NZCID report a useful guide for recovery work   24 Apr 2014

NZCID report a useful guide for recovery work

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says feedback provided to the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development (NZCID) by stakeholders in Christchurch’s rebuild will help inform the government’s ongoing work programme.

“The report we’re releasing today in conjunction with NZCID is a timely and useful qualitative and quantitative snapshot of some of the recovery’s major work programmes from a number of people at the coalface of the rebuild.

“There’s a range of candid feedback in the report – both positive and critical – about many elements of multi-agency recovery work.

“In particular there is well-presented quantitative feedback [albeit from a relatively small pool of respondents] for officials to review, and this will inform where particular focus is required.

“We’ll take all the responses on board and continue doing our best to deliver a great outcome for greater Christchurch,” Mr Brownlee says.

NZCID chief executive Stephen Selwood says the research asked senior industry leaders to rate the effectiveness of governance, planning, funding and delivery of the rebuild programme to date, and what changes should be planned for the future to speed up progress, deliver better outcomes and drive improved value for money.

“The Government's early response and ongoing commitment to the rebuild, pride in the city, optimism for the future, the CBD blueprint, sustained economic performance across the Canterbury region, and the success of the SCIRT infrastructure alliance were all singled out as significant highlights to date.

“But coordination across central government agencies, Christchurch City Council and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), and programme governance and procurement, were identified as key areas needing improvement.

“We hope the full and frank expression of views set out in this market sentiment survey will help inform ongoing decisions on governance, funding and delivery of the rebuild programme,” Mr Selwood says.

Mr Brownlee says while there will always be a range of views on how to approach what are large and often complex challenges in the rebuild, he’s broadly pleased with how the recovery is progressing.

“We have a number of issues to focus on, including delivery of important anchor projects, and ensuring stakeholders have confidence in how central government is working with local government, and we’ll be keeping recovery participants informed on how we’re addressing those things in the weeks and months ahead.

“But when I look at where we were a year ago, and think of where we’ll be in a year from now, I’m heartened that Christchurch’s recovery is happening at a reasonably good pace, and work is being delivered to a high standard.

“In a year’s time a number of CBD anchor projects will have progressed significantly, alongside numerous private sector developments, and the SCIRT programme of horizontal infrastructure repair and replacement should be around 65 per cent complete.

“With EQC’s Canterbury Home Repair Programme due to be largely complete by the end of this year, and with private insurers’ major repairs and rebuilds also picking up pace, there is a lot to be positive about in greater Christchurch, and a lot to look forward to.”

Ends

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