ROXBURGH HYDRO SCHEME

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27131, 29 August 1953, Page 6

ROXBURGH HYDRO SCHEME

Contractors Explain

Conditions

USE OF GOVERNMENT MACHINERY (New Zealand Press Association) DUNEDIN, August 28. Statements and some correspondence in the press recently led the company to believe that many people were misinformed on certain aspects of its contract with the Ministry of Works for the Roxburgh hydro-electric project, said a statement issued today by Cubitts' and Zschokke, the BritishSwiss organisation now operating at Roxburgh. They were /able to explain three main facts, on which it seemed the public would like additional information, said the contractors. These concerned the use of Ministry of Works plant by the contractors on the site; the importation of workmen; and the Ministry’s protection against possible negligence or excessive, cost. The Ministry’s plant was being used because most of the plant was either on the site or on order before the contract was let, the statement said. It would have been uneconomic to have permitted overseas contractors to bring m their own plant, because the heavy cost of transport to and from New Zealand, and of removing the Ministry’s plant from the site, would necessarily have been included in the tenders received by the Ministry. All contractors had been instructed to tender on the basis of using the Ministry’s plant, the statement' said. The Ministry of Works had thus achieved an economic way of doing the work. The hire rates for plant laid down in the contract had to be included in the tender prices. In addition, the contractors were responsible for the full cost of all plant maintenance and repair. There was, therefore, no suggestion that the terms of the contract, upon which all contractors had tendered, had in any way been amended.

Contractors had been asked to submit with their tenders lists of any additional plant they required, said the statement. Certain items had been imported specially for the Roxburgh contract as a result. The contractors were required to recruit men from overseas when they could not be found in New Zealand. A sum was included in the contract for this purpose.

No imports of labour had been agreed to by the Ministry of Works before the contractors had exhausted all New Zealand sources of labour, or before the Department of Labour had agreed to the imports, the statement said. There was no suggestion that the contract was a “cost plus” contract in the generally accepted meaning. The form of contract was known as a “target” contract, and was used frequently on large contracts overseas. The rights of the Ministry of Works about negligence or excessive costs were fully protected, said the statement.