Brynderwyns and Cook Strait Ferry fiasco highlights all that is wrong with NZ infrastructure
Nothing manages to sum up the hopelessness of NZ infrastructure quite like the ongoing fiasco of failure that is the Brynderwyns…
Brynderwyns instability shows need for alternative, four-lane SH1 route
The closure of State Highway 1 at the Brynderwyn Hills from a slip on Saturday has highlighted the need to urgently replace the route with an alternative four-lane highway, according to Northland leaders.
Heavy rain caused a number of slips on the route on Saturday, before a large slip at 11am closed the highway in both directions.
It reopened at 6.30pm on Saturday under a 30km/h speed restriction and NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) continued to monitor the site over the weekend as more rain fell.
The slip came less than a month after the highway reopened following a four-month closure to stabilise it from slips, which was estimated to have cost Northland hundreds of millions of dollars.
Many locals vented on social media over the weekend, saying the route looked like it would slip any time there was heavy rain.
…here’s the reality.
We are cheap bastards when it comes to roading, we don’t build roads, we build goat tracks through Mordor and because we are utterly unprepared for the new wave of catastrophic climate change, our roads will fail, that is what is happening with the Brynderwyns, the hills can’t take the rain fall and keep creating slips that cut off the North every time it rains!
We are a nation of cheap bastards who do everything on the cheap and that’s going to bite us in the arse!
Don’t dare tell me we don’t have the money, we just borrowed $14billion for Tax Cuts we can’t afford and $2.9billion for the richest landlords!
We refuse to tax the rich and challenge the Trucking Industry, that’s why our roads are shit!
Meanwhile, the atrocious decision to trash the Cook Strait Ferry deal get’s more and more expensive…
Inside the $180m plan to keep Interislander ferries afloat until 2029
Maritime experts have found the ageing Interislander fleet is in better condition than first thought. No systemic problems are preventing the three ferries from operating until 2029, but it will cost more money to extend their working lives.
The Maritime Union of New Zealand is treating the findings with caution – pointing to several failures on board Interislander ferries in the past 18 months including the recent Aratere grounding.
KiwiRail has been under intense scrutiny in recent months after its plan to replace its ageing ferry fleet with two mega ferries was left dead in the water. The Government refused to fund a cost blowout of $1.47 billion for the portside infrastructure needed to support the larger ships.
After the contract to build the mega ferries was officially cancelled in February, maritime experts Den Norske Veritas (DNV) were brought in to understand what was required to extend the life of the existing fleet until a new plan was in place. The Government has yet to announce that plan.
The Herald has obtained a summary of DNV’s reports under the Official Information Act.
The documents revealed the existing fleet was in a better state than first thought.
…how amazing, the Ferries are suddenly ok.
Bullshit.
This is all politics now.
After dumping Labour’s plans for rail carrying ferries as a virtue signalling stunt to show National won’t spend big, (despite borrowing more in their budget than Labour did), the grounding of the Aratere, the air force plane breaking down and a power pylon toppling over all symbolize the collapse of our underfunded infrastructure.
Nicola Willis wants a Toyota Corolla version and has promised 2 ships that won’t keep up with population growth or emissions limits.
Sure, Labour should have ensured the physical upgrade of the Ports needed to be done before the ships were delivered, but including Rail is crucial for our emissions and future growth, killing the deal off for the political virtue signal is insane!
The decision to dump the Kiwirail Ferry plan was always about rat-fucking Kiwirail for National’s Trucking industry mates!
The Engine parts for Cook Strait mega ferries were already built and tested when contract was cancelled, at what point does Nicola Willis start looking compromised in her handling of this fiasco?
Maritime Union of NZ says, ” cost of the new builds could be up to $1.2 billion – more than double the $551 million cost of the vessels for the cancelled iRex project”. $1.2billion seems pretty fucking expensive for a Toyota Corrola doesn’t it?
so right now, we have a far higher price point for the new builds ordered, a five year wait for those new vessels to come into service, and we haven’t even discussed the costs to break the original contract which could be $200million!
How’s dem apples looking for the Political Right?
The Right love to hold up Labour’s $120million bike lane that went no where as an example of Labour’s feckless accountability, but this fiasco in the space of a week has blown out cost wise by $700million
The grounding of the Aratere symbolises NZ perfectly right now: Rudderless, underfunded and run by right wing clowns.
DNV is the world largest maritime verification and certification of ships (amongst many other maritime installations) and they take ship surveys incredibly seriously. (One cannot get insurance without the verification). So I would put a great deal of credence on their report. If the ferries were in poor condition then they would not carry the coverage for the ferries. Pretty sure no ships can navigate in new Zealand waters without insurance.
I would trust DNV more than any certification body in New Zealand.
There should have been a tunnel under Brynderwyns 40 yrs ago , the saving in petrol would have paid for it by now.
We used to do such things 80 yrs ago with smaller population and by hand, to a quality that allows use through to today. Were has all that money gone in modern era ? Privatization ?
Some idiots got rid of the ministry of works
Yes …you make a very good point…
Look what N.Z managed to do when the we had the Ministry of Works and that was with a population of only 3 million..
The main opposition to a govt run MOW are the Fed Farmers, trucking industry, contractors, finance and investors including their various sycophantic idiots in the red, blue and yellow teams. When building and repairing our infrastructure is run purely on a profit model then a viable model as a politically neutral, non-commercial, scientifically informed, and technically competent agency will never be reinstated.
Yes …that’s exactly right…”Scientifically informed and technically competent”… with no other agenda.
That is why the Ministry of Works was so successful and achieved so much…. All for cost price as well!
I agree,. and when we had the MOW we did not have the contractors skimming of the top. as all the work was done “inhouse” with our own plant and expertise.
I know that an item of plant that was bought for the south island dams was sold about 5 years ago and was in still good working order So if we had a pool of plant that we could use for all these projects that would save money Or buy new and then sell it once the big job was done and buy new for the next one
We are constantly implored to be stingy. Politicians try to win votes by promising to hold rates and taxes down. So we can not ‘afford’ this or that. WE can afford things if (IF) there is available resources to be put into use. The cost of something is the resources required. Money is only a promise; a number.
We ought to notice that countries with high taxes are happier, healthier and more egalitarian.
Two comments on the Brynderwns.
First climate change bringing heavier rain than the 1900s engineering can cope with
Second, huge increase increase in 50 tonne plus trucks pounding away at it.
Again 1900s engineering can’t cope.
Solution, re engineering and or more use of rail and coastal shipping.
Instead of spending megabucks on roads spend it on a decent railfreight corridor.
Cheaper to run, safer roads and less pollution.
Simple Mr Simian.
Stop making sense UTC!!
Took thw ords right out of my mouth .Brown was patting himself on the back about planing starting for warkworth to te hana .What a joke one only has to take a look at NZTA web site and that work was started 5 years ago but has been held up by colonial land owners that dont want to part with some of the land they stole .Last time I looked a rough estmation of cost was around $2 billion a couple of years ago .At that rate around $100 billion will be needed to complete the road north as we cant stop at whangarei we need to get to Kaitia .
Let’s be very very clear, Willis is way out of her depth, most of NZ is imploring Robertson to come back, Willis is dreadful.
I would rather have Toyota organizing any new ferries than Nicola.
For a party that campaigned to get NZ “Back on track,” it seems possible that there won’t even be a track in 3 years.
“At what point does Nicola Willis start looking compromised …..?”
Like a game of Dominos, that happened 6 months ago when she didn’t do her homework properly, thus triggering the knee to jerk up and smash into the frontal cortex setting off the verbal diatribe about buying used Toyotas… of which there aren’t any.
Such was /is her incompetence, she unbelievably managed to put herself into check, and then checkmate, all in one swift moment of naive madness, and there weren’t even any other players at the table.
Like a novice painter, she has managed to box herself into a corner making exiting the situation a very messy costly affair!!