More Building Competition Needed in Canterbury - NZ First

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Sun Jun 16 2013 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

More Building Competition Needed in Canterbury - NZ First

Sunday, 16 June 2013, 8:51 pm
Press Release: New Zealand First Party

Andrew Williams

Building and Construction Spokesperson

16 June 2013

MORE BUILDING COMPETITION NEEDED IN CANTERBURY – NZ FIRST

New Zealand First has called on the Government to break Fletcher’s expensive stranglehold on building in Canterbury to avoid a continued explosion in construction costs.

Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Statement June 2013 figures released this week show that the cost of construction in Canterbury has doubled in the past year to now run at 12 per cent per annum while the annual rate in Auckland has declined and is running at about two per cent.

Building and Construction spokesperson Andrew Williams says the rapid increase in costs brings into question the Government’s rationale of having what is virtually a legalised monopoly in Canterbury with Fletchers controlling most of it.

“Quite clearly this monopolistic preferred contractor situation for the earthquake rebuild is not delivering construction costs at what could be considered reasonable levels.

“Auckland has huge demand for residential building (and accommodation) and is 10 percentage points less than Canterbury.”

Mr Williams says the Canterbury situation needs to be opened up to wider competition amongst a much broader range of construction companies and product suppliers.

“Having Fletchers taking control of it has failed, the re-build has been painfully slow, and it is costing taxpayers dearly while giving huge dividends to Fletchers.

“This government believes in the forces of the market so we suggest that it free up construction contracts in Canterbury and end this monopoly that bears a striking resemblance to Soviet Russia.

“The skyrocketing construction costs look like a giant rort is occurring right under the Government’s nose and it has to be stopped immediately before the country is bled dry by Fletchers’ ‘cost plus plenty’ mentality,” says Mr Williams.

ENDS

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