Oops . . . wrong shade of blue

An error which meant some of the lamp posts in Timaru’s central business district were painted the wrong shade of blue, as part of a $116,000 project to refresh the area, will not cost ratepayers.

Timaru District Council land transport manager Andrew Dixon said the contractor painted some of the poles in Stafford St the wrong colour, which is being corrected at no cost to council.

How the error came about is unknown, and contractor Fulton Hogan declined to comment when contacted by The Timaru Herald.

The project to repaint 75 lamp posts, some of which had not been repainted for more than 30 years, was budgeted as part of a central Timaru refresh, Dixon said.

Work began on the project in March, but was delayed due to the Covid-19 lockdown. By that stage about 35 of the lampposts had been painted.

Contractors resumed work on May 4 as the country went to level 2.

‘‘Work is still progressing and is a bit slower than normal due to the ‘‘painting’’ window during the day being shorter at this time of year due to the minimum temperature the paint requires for curing,’’ he said.