WCC Earthquake Bonds and Loans

Thomas Morgan, Southern Ward Candidate for the current Wellington City Council by-election has announced a new campaign policy today of providing interest free loans to those effected by urgent building upgrade requirements put on them by the council as a result of the recent earthquakes. "It’s an easy and sensible idea that will take the pressure off building owners with an issue of life-threatening proportions. As an example right now there about 100 buildings in the city requiring urgent parapet upgrades with owners struggling to find the money for the work," he said.

The scheme would provide loans to anyone with a council required upgrade notice and that include home owners, commercial building owners and community building owners such as churches and schools. To fund the scheme New Zealanders would be offered an attractive return to buy ‘Earthquake Bonds’ with the interest to be covered by local or central government or by any other reinvestment schemes that might be available. Mr Morgan said that he has very good lines of communication available within central government and would run the idea past both local members of parliament for the Ward- Paul Eagle and Chris Finlayson and if needed legislation could be developed to allow Wellington City Council to instigate the scheme in its own right.

Mr Morgan is keen to make life easier for rate payers not more difficult. "If the Council is going to put up ideas that are difficult to resolve then it is beholden to also offer some viable ways of dealing with the problem," he said. He expects that the scheme might become a nation-wide initiative and the finer details would be fairly easy to sort out if the general concept was accepted.

ENDS

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