WAIPORI TUNNEL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22630, 23 July 1935, Page 10

WAIPORI TUNNEL

FAULTY GROUND ENCOUNTERED ALLOWANCE TO CONTRACTOR A recommendation that an allowance be made to the contractor for the Waipori tunnel to compensate him for the extra expense involved by the faulty country encountered was made by the Electric Power and Lighting Committee at last night’s meeting of the City Council. The report of the committee, which was adopted, included the following section:—

“In consequence of the faulty nature of the ground recently encountered in the driving of the Waipori tunnel, the question of allowing the contractor some remuneration beyond the contract rate, for additional work and outlay in the faulty area, has come up for review. It would appear that, while the contractor has no legal claim, he is fairly entitled to some additional remuneration for the extra material he has had to take out of the tunnel, the cost he has been put to for timbering, and the cost of the extra concrete that will need to be put in to fill the greater void. “ The consulting engineers (Messrs Vickerman and Lancaster) are of the opinion that the allowance can best be assessed at contract yardage rates, on the basis of the additional material excavated, but there is a difficulty meantime in accurately calculating the quantity of such rfaterial. A proper assessment can, however, be made when concreting is commenced, as the quantities of concrete used to fill the additional excavation can be measured. It is recommended, therefore, that in due course an allowance be made to the contractor, without prejudice, of a sum to cover the actual quantity of additional material excavated due to the faulty ground, and that in the meantime a sum of £630 be paid as an advance on account of such allowance, this arrangement to be restricted to the length of 450 feet of tunnel from 1050 feet to 1500 feet which is actually known to be faulty. If any further faulty areas should be encountered they would need to be the subject of further investigation and consideration.”

Explaining the reasons which had actuated the committee in making the recommendation, the chairman <Cr M'MillanJ said that one of the results of the faulty nature of the ground was that a bigger tunnel had to be driven, and this had involved the contractor : n a greater out-' lay, both for excavation and for concreting the tunnel # after it was excavated. It seemed reasonable that some compensation should be made along the lines suggested in the' report.