Rising costs threaten cable-laying work

Press, 27 February 1980, Page 6

Rising costs threaten cable-laying work

The Christchurch City Council will study the amount of underground power cabling done by the Municipal Electricity Department.

But some councillors told the council’s public-utilities committee yesterday that no decision to cut back on the replacement of traditional overhead power lines should be -considered if it would mean more unemployment. Cr Mollie Clark even suggested that the Government should use part of its future power-development income to meet: the costs of putting power lines underground.

“Then we will have the domestic consumer getting some benefit from such developmnet,” she said. The Mayor of Christ-

church (Mr H. G. Hay) said the council had to know how much had been spent on underground cabling in the last five years before ma-ki-.g a decision. The M.E.D.’s suggested five-year capital-works programme shows cabling work valued at $ll million in that period, with about. $3.7 million of that coming from loans.

Underground cabling work has always been one of the department’s biggest capitalspending areas. The amount of residential-subdivision work has dropped' with the building slump.

The M.E.D. receives a contribution towards residential work. Other work, such as replacement of lines in the city centre, does not attract a contribution.

Cr Clark said it was a “sad commentary” to think that some parts of Christchurch, particularly low-in-come areas where residents could not afford to pay for underground wiring could be waiting even longer for such cabling.

“We have still got these drunken wooden posts staggering in many of' our suburbs at drunken angles,” she said.

The cost of cabling work has been rising faster than inflation in the last few years.

Councillors want the M.E.D. to provide more financial information before deciding whether to change the underground-cabling policy.