M.P. backs contractors

Press, 4 July 1978, Page 7

M.P. backs contractors

Dunedin The National member of Parliament for Otago Central, Mr Warren Cooper, has given his support to a Contractors’ Federation move to have the Clutha Valley development project handled by private contract. Mr Cooper said yesterday that the taxpayer’s dollar would go further if the Upper Clutha scheme were done by the “construct-by-contract” method advocated by the federation.

“During my experience in local and central Government, I have neither seen nor learned anything to shake my belief that, given similar conditions, private contractors with a profit motive will win hands down when compared with the State when asked to provide a service or a public utility,” Mr Cooper said. The president of the Contractors’ Federation (Mr T. J. Draper) claimed last week that the Government could save tens of millions of dollars by letting out the Clutha Valley project to private contract instead of using the Ministry of Works and Development. The federation released a comprehensive report which has been submitted ter the Government. The report shows that scheme F could be divided into more than 20 contracts, and possibly as many as 40. A departmental report on the use of private contract-

ors for the $750 million plus Clutha scheme will go before the Cabinet works committee soon.

The Minister of Works (Mr W. L. Young) said last week that the matter would go to this committee and probably to the full Cabinet. Mr Cooper said a strong competitive system of public tendering, which would ensure that contractors would continue to improve their techniques and efficiency, was essential.

“Having campaigned for National in 1975 for election to Parliament on a platform giving strong support to private enterprise, my backing for the contractors’ campaign will surprise no one.” Mr Cooper said New Zealand’s future depended on a more efficient private sector.

The Government could not contemplate retrenchment, but a 10-year plan to increase the private-sector involvement in major taxpayerfinanced works was overdue.