Major roading contract awarded

Dunedin (Thursday, 30 June 2016) – The awarding of a multi-million dollar Dunedin road maintenance contract marks a major shift in the way the work will be reported and assessed.

Dunedin City Council General Manager Infrastructure and Networks Ruth Stokes says, “We will transform our service delivery information over the next year.”

The aim is for the DCC and the public to be able to access detailed information online that measures the contractor’s performance against contract specifications in areas such as health and safety and how quickly customer queries are addressed, as well as the physical work carried out.

Over the following year, a range of improvements will be rolled out, meaning residents will be able to go online and see what work is planned and where, and also view real time reports of the work as it is being carried out.

The contract to maintain both the urban and rural road network for the entire DCC area has been awarded to Downer, which will be working in partnership with SouthRoads. The contract is also structured to support a range of local subcontractors.

The new contract is for a three year term, followed by two separate one year right of renewals at the discretion of the DCC. The contract, which starts on 1 July, has a value of $45 million for the three year period.

The work covered by the new contract is currently covered by three contracts. The urban and rural road network contracts are held by Fulton Hogan and the signs and markings contract is held by Downer. The new contract also includes maintenance of all hard surfacing in the city’s parks and recreation areas (previously part of parks contracts). There was a competitive tendering process for the new contract, with two tenders received.

The work which Downer will carry out from 1 July includes the resealing of roads and footpaths, shape correction work, kerb and channel replacement, cleaning mud tanks, fixing potholes, grading gravel roads, street cleaning, spraying roadside vegetation and maintaining road signs. Downer will also have the job of responding – at any time of the day or night – when weather such as ice and snow pose problems for the city’s roading network.

Mrs Stokes says, “These are key services for our residents and ratepayers. We want to make sure we can all be proud of how our city looks.”

As well as details of the work becoming publicly available, new contract management processes have also been put in place.

Including the recently announced parks maintenance contracts, the DCC has successfully negotiated almost $70 million of services for the city over the next three years.

“This will have a huge impact on the look and feel of our city.”

The DCC area is one of the largest city areas in New Zealand, with about 1000km of sealed roads and 700km of unsealed or gravelled roads.

ENDS

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