Workers’ units arrive in Kaikoura
The first three workers’ village units have arrived in Kaikoura by truck.
The truck loads, which arrived early yesterday, carried kitchen and laundry facilities for the living quarters which are still to come.
A NZ Transport Authority (NZTA) spokeswoman said the transportation firm reported no problems with the delivery over the Inland Rd via Waiau overnight, and there had been little other traffic on the route.
The oversized truckloads are travelling overnight to minimise disruption to traffic.
The temporary village is being established in a paddock in Mt Fyffe Rd, just to the west of Kaikoura township, and will cover about three hectares.
The North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) alliance will run the village, which will accommodate over 300 people working to rebuild State Highway 1 and the main railway north of Kaikoura.
The 75 pre-fabricated units are being delivered from Christchurch, and NCTIR expects the village to be open by mid May. Each unit has four self-contained bedrooms and ensuites, and the village will include recreational facilities such as a dining hall, laundry and gymnasium.
NCTIR decided to use prefabricated accommodation to reduce the load on Kaikoura’s tourist accommodation, and to reduce the amount of traffic from multiple accommodation facilities across the Kaikoura district.
Workers will travel from the village to work sites in buses.
The road around the village will be upgraded and the speed limit will be temporarily reduced to 50kmh to cope with the increased traffic.
NCTIR expects the village will be needed for about 18 months, after which the units will be removed.
Some accommodation providers in and around Kaikoura have also leased units for workers to use.