Don’t burden the ratepayers

So the Taranaki Regional Council (not the NP District Council) wants ratepayers throughout the province to come up with $55 million for the upgrade and refurbishment of the Yarrow Stadium to render it secure in the extremely unlikely event of a catastrophic earthquake hitting North Taranaki.

I would have thought you could rebuild the whole complex for half of that figure, possibly even less, using all the imported expertise and tradies that seem to be working here in New Zealand at present.

But I’m confident the TRC have looked into it thoroughly and not just plucked a figure out of the blue. Although it’s so easy to do when you are spending someone else’s money.

This is just another example of the ‘‘Wotif ‘‘ mentality we seemed to have bought upon ourselves. It’s become a gravy train. If an earthquake was to strike here with sufficient intensity to seriously damage the stadium, then I doubt there would be be many commercial buildings or domestic houses left standing that would able to be inhabited for quite some time.

The good people of Taranaki would have far more to worry about than missing out on their weekend visits to the stadium.

The power station chimney and the cool stores complex are probably the only buildings of note in New Plymouth that would sustain little or no damage.

What nonsense are the bureaucrats going to dream up next?

Maybe the wearing of hard hats when outdoors should be compulsory in case of a wayward meteorite or asteroid?

It’s probably many thousands of years since there was any major seismic activity in this province.

I have been reliably informed from my time here in the oil and gas exploration sector in Taranaki, that the next major geological event will be in all likelihood mud flows erupting from the mountain on the Kapuni side.

Not much we are going to be able do about that. Life is a risk from the time you’re born. Be aware of those risks. Sell the stadium to an overseas buyer and let them come up with the money – don’t burden the ratepayers.

Chris Tompkins, Bell Block

Media Council