
Contractor McConnell Dowell is building the $22 million road bridge at Kawarau Falls.
But Queenstown Lakes District Council has been told it could cost about a quarter of that, $4.8 million, to run water supply and wastewater pipes within it.
At a full council meeting yesterday, Queenstown councillor Alexa Forbes said people had ‘‘seriously questioned the price’’.
Mayor Jim Boult said "it does seem like a lot".
"I’d hate to think we were picking up an overspend elsewhere."
Council infrastructure general manager Peter Hansby said he agreed, especially the cost in relation to the cost of the bridge.
He had "flagged it" with the NZTA.
Mr Hansby said: "When I saw the pricing I immediately went back and said this is not going to fly.
"We have to ensure our pricing has not been loaded in any way.
"So we have Ken Bond, who works for NZTA, valuing some of their larger projects. He will come and verify the price submitted by the contractor is fair and reasonable.
"So we’ve got our plans in place to test we’ve got good value for money."
McConnell Dowell was approached for comment and passed the inquiry on to NZTA, which did not respond before deadline.
The contractor has estimated the physical works will cost $4.8million with 10% contingency. Council overheads are likely to be about $431,000. The cost includes replacing pipelines running to the bridge.
Remarkables Park Ltd (RPL), which owns land nearby, suggested an alternative route for the pipes, proposing a new pedestrian and cycle trail bridge 1.25km downstream.
Mr Hansby and council chief engineer Ulrich Glasner said the proposal was not presented to the council because it did not meet the needs of the project. RPL’s general manager of development Brian Fitzpatrick introduced the proposal through the public forum at the start of the council meeting. He said the sewer line would be shorter. However, Mr Glasner said the proposal was not presented "because it doesn’t address all the issues were we looking to solve, such as resilience".
"All the sewage from Kelvin Heights would need to go down to that point, and then be pumped back up."
Mr Glasner said the walking bridge project would be a least two years away with resource consent, possible land acquisition, and the resizing of the pump station.
In order to get pipelines through the bridge, the council needed to sign it off "today".
"We need to deal with the future needs.
"The pipeline across the [old] bridge is already close to capacity — to run it we phase pumping."
Mr Glasner had said the new bridge pipelines would only meet capacity across the river for 10 to 15 years. It would meet current capacity, development at Kelvin Heights and Jacks Point, and about 350 homes of the 1750 planned for Hanley’s Farm. Councillor Scott Stevens said the projects were not in conflict as there would be a need for a second pipeline crossing in future, either by road or walking bridge.
"We can continue looking at the other option."
A recommendation to proceed with the work to run pipelines across the bridge was unanimously approved.
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