Queenstown councillors have expressed alarm at rising construction costs after new figures showed a combined $19.4 million budget increase for more than 30 projects planned across the Queenstown Lakes District.
The figures, presented to the council's utilities committee yesterday, showed the overall budget required for a host of water utilities had increased to $140.5 million, up from the $121 million forecast in the last Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP) two years ago.
The biggest increase saw the cost of the Shotover Pond wastewater project increase from an original budget of $8.2 million to $36 million.
Other increases included the planned water supply upgrades at Hawea, up from $2.8 million to $3.7 million, Arthurs Point, up from $1.6 million to $3.6 million, and the Bremner Bay wastewater pump station upgrade, up from $800,000 to $1.4 million.
However, QLDC engineering general manager Mark Kunath said the budget increases were the result of changes in scope for the projects and were offset by savings made following scoping reports for other projects.
The Shotover Pond project, for example, had transformed from a relatively minor planned upgrade when original budgets were drafted two years ago to the "state of the art'' facility planned today, he said.
Overall the figures showed a 16% cost increase but removing the Shotover Pond project from the equation meant the remaining scoping reports actually achieved a saving, he told the Otago Daily Times.
However, utilities committee chairman Cr John Mann told yesterday's meeting some of the budget increases were "alarming'' and more detail explaining the reasons why would be needed in future reports.
The figures followed revelations in February that the cost of the Crown Range Rd upgrade had escalated by $1 million from $2.8 million to $3.8 million after more detailed design information was obtained.
Cr Gillian Macleod suggested the increases showed the council's own procurement policy, which saw a panel of seven preferred contractors bidding for $125.5 million in projects across the district, wasn't working.
The projects should be publicly tendered on the open market to ensure the best prices were obtained, she said.
Cr Mann said a more detailed breakdown behind the cost increases would prevent councillors "speculating".
"At the moment we are speculating, so much so that we are doubting the procurement process, which I think is out of order because we don't know.''
