STEADY PROGRESS AT BENMORE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28559, 12 April 1958, Page 10

STEADY PROGRESS AT BENMORE

Excitingly Active Scene At Township Site (By a Staff Correspondent of "The Press”) SEVENTEEN miles beyond Kurow, by a winding shingle road over the tussock-covered terraces and bluffs of the Waitaki river, and nestling in a flat river basin surrounded by low, rugged hills, lies the site of Otematata township, the construction town for New Zealand’s biggest ever, £36m hydro-electric scheme at Benmore, in the gorge of the Waitaki river. Last October, six months ago, there was nothing but the bare, windswept, tussock plain of Otematata, its expanse broken only by the dusty shingle road winding on towards Omarama and Lake Ohau or the Lindis Pass. Today, the traveller there is greeted by a scene at once arresting, full of interest and activity, and, indeed, of excitement, as this new township, a vital part of a huge, long-term project, slowly begins to take shape.

The distant hum and throb of bulldozers and earth-moving machinery fill the air, clouds of dust hang over the area as trucks and carrying vehicles ply along the partly-formed roads, scattered gangs of men wield mallet, saw,, and hammer. Everywhere lie stockpiles of shingle and spoil, drainage pipes, and various building materials. Everywhere survey pegs mark the lines of unformed or part-formed roads—and a multiplicity of hut and house site's.

Already the No. 1 work camp of 200 single men’s huts, with all its ancillary ' buildings—canteen and cookhouse, caterer’s staff houses, ablution and lavatory blocks—has been erected, brought by road transport from Roxburgh, and about 160 Ministry of Works labourers and contractors’ staff are in residence. Contracts have been let for the shifting of further buildings from Roxburgh to begin the formation of the No. 2 work camp. Three miles further up the river, at the actual site for the gigantic, 350 ft-high earth dam Linking two high hillsides, steady progress is being maintained on the preliminary work of constructing the huge river-diversion channel. The diversion channel is a major three-year to four-year project in itself, involving the blasting out of solid rock of a channel 1800 ft long, 50ft deep, and 70ft wide at the bottom, in which will be constructed a mighty double culvert, each one 25ft wide and 39ft high and big enough to take two full-sized trolley buses comfortably, driven abreast. Blasting Begun Here a gang of 20 men operating two excavators and six earthmoving vehicles are engaged on stripping off overburden topsoil along the line of the cut. and are moving about 500 cubic yards of spoil a day. Bedrock has been reached on certain parts of the work and drilling and blasting operations have begun. As this work progresses, more and more heavy excavating and earth-moving machinery will be brought to the site. Included will be four modern excavators, each weighing 121 tons and capable of shifting four cubic yards of spoil at a single bite.

At Otematata 'township, three more single men’s camps and a married men’s camp are to be built. The No. 2 and No. 3 work camps will each contain 250 huts and the No. 4 work camp 150 huts. Although less than a dozen of the four-roomed married men’s houses have been shifted to their sites, the married men’s camp eventually will consist of 900 or so houses—7oo brought from Roxburgh, some from Lake Hawea. and some possibly built on the si>ot

Each house will stand in its own section, having . a 50ft frontage, with room enough for a garden. Each will be equipped with modem, all-electric facilities and its interior tastefully decorated. Indeed. their occupants will be more snugly and comfortably housed, even though it snows or blows on the Otematata plain, than many a city dweller. The target for the shifting from Roxburgh and the re-erection at Otematata of the No. 2 work camp of 250 huts plus 25 houses and ancillary buildings is June 30 of this year. During the winter.

work will be pushed ahead on interior installations and renovations. In the meantime, the No. 1 work camp is already functioning. Its focal point is the canteencookhouse, where a private contractor is supplying the meals. The canteen is a spacious building where scores of men can dine simultaneously, seated in comfort at tables and chairs. The cookhouse contains up-to-date electrical cobking and steam-heat-ing facilities, and modern, stainless steel kitchen equipment. It has refrigerators, dish masters, electric mixers, potato peelers, and other labour-saving devices. It contains cool rooms, store rooms, vegetable storerooms, and washing rooms. Good Food Well Served The food served is good, and plenty of it—the normal midday helping of mutton stew, with vegetables and potatoes, bread, butter, and savoury biscuits, and tea, proving more than sufficient to satisfy the abnormally-keen appetite of a reporter of “The Press” who travelled to Benmore in the morning without having had any breakfast. A scheme for the complete repainting of all the buildings in the camps and their re-roofing with iron in place of the present material is to be carried out by the housing construction division of the Ministry of Works. A start on this extensive work was made on March 27 with the painting of the first hut of the 200 in the No. 1 work camp—a buttercup shade, with white facings, window sills, and doors. Huts in the No. 2 work camp will be painted eau de nil, with white facings, and the buttercup colour of No. 1 camp linked to the colour scheme of the second camp in buttercup doors and window sills. There will be a similar linking of colours through the other camps, providing a harmonisation in the whole colour scheme of the township building.

Roading round No. 1 camp has now been completed, and is ready for sealing. Roading is partly completed on the sites of some of the other camps. Round the married men’s large camp, the sealed streets will have wide grass verges planted attractively in ornamental trees and shrubs. Work also has to be carried out on water and sewerage systems for the township. Water will be pumped from the Waitaki to a million-gallon reservoir on one of the hills overlooking the township, and thence piped to the various camps. The installation of piping and construction of fire hydrants throughout the township will be an extensive undertaking.

Work has started on the build - ing of 14 of the 33 shops to be erected at Otematata township. They will be of timber-frame construction with concrete floors and iron roofing, built by the Ministry of Works and they will be let to private traders. The shops will be of attractive design and will be up to date in every way, even to fluorescent lighting. When the shopping block is completed, workers in the township will be able to make purchases from every possible type of retail shop. Besides sites allocated for shops, there are sites for three schools, four churches, and a licensed

three-star grade hotel. A social hall and a Y.M.C.A. building are already re-erected on their sites after having been shifted from Roxburgh and are being repainted and renovated. But the most impressive feature qf the embyro township at the moment is “Riverside House,” the 30-bedroom Ministry .of Works staff hostel, a building 203 ft long by 32ft wide, brought by road transport from Roxburgh, and one of the largest buildings ever shifted in New Zealand. After re-erection, the building was renovated and repainted inside and out, and should soon be ready for occupation. At this hostel, Ministry of Works engineers and overseer staff will stay, besides many persons visiting the projection on official business. With its comfortable large lounge with landscape windows, spacious dining room, bathrooms with built-in baths and showers, and tastefully decorated bedrooms with built-in furniture and hot-water and cold-water basins, this building has all the amenities of a comfortable hotel. “Riverside House” is built on a slight rise and overlooks the township. From the broad windows of its lounge, the visitor has a fine view looking up towards the gorge of the Waitaki. and its surrounding high hills which cradle the mighty Benmore project.