Councils look at sweeping roading moves

South Canterbury’s district councils are set to join forces in an effort to save on roading costs.

The proposal, which could see Timaru, Waimate and Mackenzie councils linking their roading requirements, is highlighted in a Timaru District Council report that seeks to extend the current contract for seven months so ‘‘a robust nextgeneration contract’’ can be prepared.

The existing five-year contract for the Timaru District – worth $52 million – came from a generic tender document for the three councils.

That contract, due to end in November, gave tenderers the opportunity to tender for individual contracts or packages. Timaru’s contract went to Fulton Hogan while Waimate and Mackenzie went with Whitestone Contracting.

The proposed Timaru extension, estimated to cost an extra $7m, will be discussed at council’s tenders and procurement committee meeting on January 28. It must be supported and approved by Mackenzie and Waimate councils ‘‘as future re-tendering will be done in a collaborative manner to seek better value for money . . .’’.

‘‘It is understood that these councils support the contract extension,’’ the report says.

‘‘The intention is to review the scope of the next generation of the road maintenance contract and considering a restructure of services.

‘‘Under consideration is the potential inclusion of footpath renewals and some asset management data functions.’’

The report states that with the changes ‘‘it is anticipated this will reduce costs for the councils in preparing and managing the contracts’’.

Timaru mayor Nigel Bowen said sharing the services would benefit the two smaller councils as much as Timaru.

‘‘It allows them options they wouldn’t necessarily get if they tendered on their own.

‘‘Timaru is acting as the friendly neighbour in this. It helps create economies of scale,’’ he said.

If the joint venture roading maintenance proposal goes ahead it will follow a similar proposal currently under discussion to also jointly tender the region’s waste management services.

Bowen said the joint venture should not be seen as a precursor to amalgamation of councils in any form, rather it was a sensible and prudent approach to important services.

A Local Government NZ spokesman agreed, saying combining procurement on certain goods and services was common as a way to drive better value.

‘‘While it works well for some activities others benefit much less from scale, and ratepayers appreciate the political independence that their local council provides across the range of issues that affect their region,’’ he said.

‘‘Rather than acting as evidence for amalgamation, co-operation between councils shows that it’s possible to both gain the benefits of

‘‘The Government has clearly indicated it wants councils working together . . . this is by no means a pre-emption of any amalgamation arrangement, but rather it’s about scale.’’

Craig Rowley Waimate mayor

scale while maintaining political autonomy.’’

Mackenzie District mayor Graham Smith said the extension would also help councils better align with the next Long Term Plan.

‘‘I’m very confident about the benefits of sharing services,’’ Smith said.

Waimate District mayor Craig Rowley said the three councils were also considering a joint-tender process for waste management contracts.

‘‘The Government has clearly indicated it wants councils working together ... this is by no means a pre-emption of any amalgamation arrangement, but rather it’s about scale,’’ Rowley said.

‘‘The bigger the scale you can get in contracts such as roading, the better the price will be overall.’’