Why drainage industry should be investigated now so many State Houses are built on floodplains
The IRD report on how the wealthy steal from a. rigged capitalism once again highlights how utterly under regulated NZ Capitalism is!
After the Gib crisis: Megan Woods forms new critical materials taskforce
Building and Construction Minister Megan Woods has announced that a new critical materials taskforce is being formed, partly in response to the Gib crisis.
The taskforce will include sector leaders from the Government’s plasterboard investigation group, established in June.
But it will also incorporate experts covering smaller operations, design, consenting, products and procurement matters.
Woods said the focus would be on trying to maximise productivity and cushioning businesses from supply chain risks, giving guidance, data and information to help builders, designers and business owners.
Great work Minister Woods, now do drainage!
Frustration inside the drainage industry has reached boiling point recently with anti competitive practices and crony capitalism that would make your average South American Drug Cartels blush.
When we have so many State Houses now being built on floodplains, surely the extra costs to that extra drainage need investigation?
Thousands of state houses on flood prone land, and more going up
A sizeable chunk of state housing is on flood prone land, and Kāinga Ora continues to put new builds on land it knows will flood in the future.
Currently, more than 15 percent of the state housing portfolio was on flood prone land.
And of Kāinga Ora’s planned investments, 16 percent were in rainfall or river flood prone areas and 1.7 percent were in coastal flooding zones at risk of sea level rise.
Of its current stock, at least 4350 homes in Auckland were built in flood zones, with a total property value of more than $3.1 billion.
Justice for Drainage is a new push from those in the independent drainage community to highlight the manner in which the industry is dictated to by a duopoly which in turn is pushing up the housing costs to first time home buyers, councils and state housing.
time and time and time again in New Zealand we see an old boy matrix of vested interests who occupy market dominance and act like a monopoly, duopoly or oligopoly raking in vast wealth while leaving the local small and medium sized operators outside the cosy relationships!
Up and down NZ, small and medium enterprises are unable to compete because of the lack of basic regulation in the market!
We’ve seen it with the Supermarket duopoly, the medicinal cannabis oligopoly, the Gib Board monopoly – each time under regulated and poorly regulated capitalism continues to screw over us the consumers at a time of a cost of living crisis!
Pricing distortions in the Drainage Wholesale market are being caused by an effective duopoly which is curing enormous costs for everyone building.
Minister, I’m not looking for socialism, just basic regulated capitalism!
The Government could help by insisting 15-20% of Drainage Supplies to Kāinaga Ora be independent drainage suppliers.
This industry structure requires urgent investigation.
$3.1billion of State House Property is at stake!
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How ridiculous!
The drainage systems are not the problem, it’s the stupidity of those agreeing to housing on flood plains, ie stupid developers, owners, councils, engineers, planners, lawyers, environment court, etc.
We wait and see the outcome of Dome Valley Landfill for example.
Even if they remediate the flood plains the water has to go somewhere else. Flood plains are cheap, natural places for water to go. It is better to build elsewhere (rather than build up with concrete with huge CO2 footprint and make the water someone else’s problem) than buy cheap land and then spend a fortune on infrastructure to make it work (taxpayer generally being stung for this and the remediation when it floods and the increased insurance costs to everyone else) –
Relying on engineering is a mistake in NZ , many of the engineers are fake in NZ or hopelessly inexperiencesd and under skillsed (CTV building, Pike river) and the data they use is very old or incorrect from their appalling IT systems that they can’t manage and maintain properly.
In addition a lot of resource consents don’t require engineering at the resource consent state, or there are many tricks to avoid it.
Engineers may advise big is better, but the detention devices they say will mediate housing water, don’t last long when you have 4 days of torrential rain and no natural place for it to go to as the permeable surfaces have been eradicated in many NZ cities, by paid engineers saying it will be ok – while not looking at intensification as a whole when the entire street and most of the housing around it, is paved.
In addition the government are firmly in Fletchers pocket, so no wonder we have so many building problems when we have a monopoly with Fletchers (for Gib), and the monopoly is advising the government and policy advisors!
A sizeable chunk of state housing is on flood prone land, and Kāinga Ora continues to put new builds on land it knows will flood in the future.
Notice it’s Kainga Ora referred to, not Housing NZ. So when problems happen that should have been considered and planned for, what will be remembered; it was that Maori outfit at fault, not the government! Whether its planned, or unintentional, naming every agency in Maori language in a failing country with rabid agencies going for broke literally, is a huge backhander to Maori. It will do their mana into the ground. The thinking Maori who aren’t stifled by fine business and economic certainties that are ‘shined-up shabby’, from supposedly illustrious entities, will see around this subterfuge.