Savings improve Raumati Beach CBD outcomes

Significant savings on the tender for the Raumati Beach CBD stormwater upgrade have been partially applied to increasing the amount of undergrounding of electrical power and cabling possible for the project.
The tender was approved by the Kāpiti Coast District Council at its meeting in Ōtaki last week.
The project will solve the significant flooding issues of the Raumati Beach CBD in recent years.
Chair of the Paraparaumu-Raumati Community Board, Louella Jensen, welcomed the news that the tender had been let and the project was about to start.
“Retailers and property owners in the Raumati Beach CBD have been eagerly awaiting the start of work on this. A major reduction in the threat of flooding will be great weight off their shoulders,” she said.
The project will start in April and should be completed by November this year.
“It is a major project and while every effort will be made to minimise disruption there will be some and we apologise for that in advance,” Mrs Jensen said.
The original engineer’s estimate for the project was nearly $3.6million and the tender price accepted was less than $2.8million, Council was told.
Various options for undergrounding the power and Telstra Clear cabling in the area were included in the project. The significantly lower tender price allowed consideration of increasing the amount of undergrounding to be carried out. An additional $186,707 has now been allocated for this.
The tender for the project was awarded to Action Plumbing & Drainage Limited.
The report to Council noted that while this was an open tender, no local contractors tendered for the work. Stormwater upgrade work is very specialised, of considerable value and possibly too large for local contractors, the report said.
A number of local suppliers will be involved, however, and approximately $500,000 of the contract will be spent locally. The successful contractor also has staff who live within the Kāpiti Coast boundaries.