Undergrounding of power lines
Western Bay of Plenty District Council says it’s pleased to have negotiated a deal to extend the undergrounding of power on Ōmokoroa Road. This work will be undertaken by Northpower Limited and involve the full undergrounding of power lines from the Western Ave Reserve through to the Country Estate Boundary, as part of Stage 1 of the Ōmokoroa Road urbanisation project.
The undergrounding of the power lines is expected to occur in the next few months, as part of the enabling works involving stormwater connections, footpath and cycleway, kerbing and channelling on Ōmokoroa Road.
The undergrounding of this section of the power lines will cost a total of $215,000, with the Country Estate separately paying approximately $55,000 to underground part of their frontage from Anderley Ave. Powerco
is also investing $113,600 towards this project.
Western Bay Mayor Garry Webber is pleased with the outcome of the negotiations, which has resulted in a significantly reduced cost to ratepayers.
“Initial cost estimates for the work were around the $700,000 mark – which we thought was fairly high.
“So, we asked the team to go back to the drawing board and after some thorough negotiations, we have managed to save approximately $316,000 for ratepayers.
“This is a direct result of our team working hard for ratepayers, and I’m sure the Ōmokoroa community will be happy with this outcome.”
Underground power in this specific area was one of the reasons given for the formation of an Ōmokoroa Residents and Ratepayers Association. Chairman Bruce McCabe says the decision by Council vindicates the lobbying the Association has done.
“This is a welcome, complete turnaround from Council’s initial decision that power would not be undergrounded during the road upgrade, despite a staff recommendation.
“ORRA has applied pressure to overturn this decision through meetings with the CEO and senior Council Officers and by publicly questioning the Mayor and other Councillors about their unjustifiable position. Full credit must be given to Council staff,” he says.
The cost for these works is being accommodated within the Ōmokoroa Road urbanisation project budget of $8.2 million, which comprises of funding from Council ($2.63 million) and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency ($3.87 million), as well as Government funding of $1.7 million – as part of Central Government’s stimulus package.