‘Stability’ at Marsden Point

Press, 28 May 1983, Page 3

‘Stability’ at Marsden Point

PA Whangarei An American industrial expert has been brought in gfrom the Netherlands to take direct control of the Marsden Point refinery expansion project. He is Mr David Beldotti, aged 41, who since the start of the expansion has been directing work from Badger-Chiyoda’s head office in The Hague.

Mr Beldotti said he was confident the productivity problems which have plagued the billion-dollar project could be solved. The key element which the various unions had to respect was the sanctity of the site agreement. “If we get to have a stable workforce, I believe we are still within the realm of being able to finish on time,” Mr Beldotti said. “We need stability, and we’re going to get it.”

Mr Beldotti said it would be necessary to import a number of people with very special welding and engineering skills to get the job done on time.

The number of people needed would not be great, probably between 100 and 200 he said. These highly skilled people, mostly welders, were hard to find anywhere in the world. Mr Beldotti said it might also be necessary to bring in a number of people with other skills, but the response from New Zealand workers wanting employment at the site had been greater than expected. The resignation of Badger-Chiyoda’s deputy project director on the site at Marsden Point, Mr Henk Dokter, and some of the problems in New Zealand, had resulted in his shifting his office to New Zealand, he said.