District council changes roading contractor
WAIMATE
WHITESTONE Contracting Ltd has lost its Waimate District Council roading contract to Rooney Earthmoving Ltd.
The district council announced yesterday it had awarded the $16 million fiveyear road maintenance and operations contract to Rooney Earthmoving, which will take over from Whitestone Contracting in July.
Whitestone Contracting had held the contract for the past five years, and chief executive Glenn Campbell said it was an ‘‘unfortunate’’ loss of revenue for the company, affecting 12 staff.
‘‘But it’s business, and we’ve just got to react to it,’’ Mr Campbell said.
‘‘With the staff, we’re either trying to deploy them internally, but we’re also talking to the new contractor as well, so, hopefully, we can have jobs for those staff.’’
Whitestone Contracting’s head office is in Deborah, south of Oamaru. It also has depots in Fairlie, Twizel, Cromwell, Alexandra, and Dunedin. Its Waimate depot would no longer be required.
Waimate District Council roading manager Robert Moffat said the contract was awarded after a competitive tender process.
Two bids were received and both were evaluated on their merits, criteria including track record, relevant skills, resources, methodology and price, Mr Moffat said.
‘‘The contract was developed in collaboration with the Timaru District Council, so both councils went to market with similar documentation and now have a similar framework to work from . . . This will apply to the management and supervision of the maintenance contracts.’’
The Timaru District Council has just awarded its $40 million road maintenance contract to Fulton Hogan.
Waimate Mayor Craig Rowley thanked Whitestone Contracting for its service to the district, and said he looked forward to working with Rooney Earthmoving.
‘‘We are pleased to award the contract to Rooney’s. They’re a local contractor and we’ll be working together to deliver good quality road maintenance and service to our community,’’ Mr Rowley said.
‘‘Our roading network is council’s biggest asset and this infrastructure is critically important for keeping our residents and economy moving.”
Rooney Earthmoving Ltd managing director Gary Rooney said his team was looking forward to working with the council to drive improved maintenance and resilience in the district.