‘Hostility’ By Contractors

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31142, 19 August 1966, Page 3

‘Hostility’ By Contractors

(New Zealand Press Association)

NEW PLYMOUTH, August 18.

Concern at the continued “rather hostile” attitude of some contractors toward local bodies owning and using their own plant was expressed at the Associated General Contractors’ Federation’s annual conference at New Plymouth today.

Mr R. S. Martin, president of the County Engineers’ Institute, told contractors he considered the matter of local bodies owning and operating plant a “matter of economics. “If you, as an Industry, can offer local bodies plant equipment at a rate below which they can purchase and operate it, then you must give local body members credit for having sufficient business acu-

men to accept firm offers.”

From a local body's point of view, a “pre-qualification” system had distinct advantages, Mr Martin said. It would ensure that contractors who were capable of completing the work in the manner specified would obtain local body work. It was hard for local body members, who did most of their work in open meeting, not to accept the lowest tender for any work and a prequalification system would eliminate the present tendency to accept unrealistic prices. Such a system would eliminate many local bodies virtually financing inefficient contractors, he said. He asked contractors to consider a system of self-classifi-cation. In all negotiations to establish a pre-qualification system, the federation had dealt with the Crown, thus placing the Crown in the position of being the pre-qualify-ing authority. If the federation adopted a form of self-classification, it could approach local body associations for support, he said.