Push to accelerate tardy project
Work on the delayed multimilliondollar Queen St upgrade at Richmond has ramped up and a further push is planned to make up for lost time.
Tasman District Council engineering services manager Richard Kirby said activity had already ‘‘picked up’’ on site and he had been meeting with senior managers from the main contractor, Downer, ‘‘to see if there’s a quicker way we can deliver the project’’.
Over the next three weeks, Kirby planned to finalise a new programme of work with the aim of completing the entire upgrade by April 30, as originally scheduled. It would be a programme ‘‘we are going to stick to’’.
The push comes after some business owners outlined concerns about the adverse effects of the delayed work, which is months behind schedule.
Poppy Thai owner Pobsak Srithong spoke earlier this month about the financial struggles he faced as the work dragged on outside his restaurant. Yesterday, he said since he spoke out, there had been ‘‘more action’’ on the street. ‘‘They work really hard now,’’ he said. ‘‘Even in the rain.’’
In a report for a TDC committee meeting tomorrow, Kirby says the upgrade had been ‘‘fraught with interruptions’’.
‘‘This has primarily been caused by unforeseen obstacles encountered underground. Utility services were not in the same locations as identified in the asbuilt plans.’’
Stage one, between Gladstone Rd and the Noel Leeming store, of the planned six-stage $11 million upgrade was intended to be completed mid-May.
However, it was not opened to the public until the weekend of August 5-6. Stage two, from Noel Leeming to the Cambridge St intersection, was scheduled to be completed in mid-July but now had an intended finish date of midSeptember.
Kirby, who only started at TDC shortly before the physical work began, said he believed the original programme was ‘‘very aspirational’’. ‘‘I don’t think there was sufficient planning work done prior to it commencing,’’ he said.
Queen St businessman Garry Higgins, of Richmond Roast House & Cafe, also did not believe there was enough investigation before work started. ‘‘Surely, they were able to probe the road ... with the technology these days.’’
The cafe is in the nowcompleted first stage and Higgins said there had been a ‘‘positive reaction’’ to the new-look section of Queen St. Business had picked up since the section reopened but Higgins anticipated it might take six to 12 months ‘‘until we’re back to where we were last year’’.