WELLINGTON SEWAGE TUBE BLOCK
Photo: RNZ/ ROB DIXON
Wellington Water has known since June that some of its contractors are being investigated by the Commission of Trade.
The commission confirmed on Tuesday that it was investigating “parts that provide services to parties, including Wellington Water”, for potential illegal conduct under the trade law.
I did not say when any investigation began or if it is related to the work of the parts for Wellington water.
Among the findings of two independent reports released this week, the organization was paying three times more for water repairs than in other parts of the country.
Wellington Water told RNZ that some of his contractors advised him nine months ago.
“We were advised directly by certain hired in June 2024 that the Commission of Commerce asked to talk to them,” said a gateway.
“However, it would not have been appropriate to take any action, as no discovery was made by the Commerce of Trade on these panel members and we were not contacted by the Trade Commission on any investigations or irregularities.”
At the time, Wellington’s water had already started working to analyze the reduction of consultants and spending on contractors and “opportunities for improvement,” the document said.
Prior to reports from Deloitte and AECOM, Wellington Water channeled all its capital project work through a ‘Capex panel’ composed of a few companies, which later charged the subcontractors of providing different parts of each project.
He also had a ‘alliance’ with Fulton Hogan to perform maintenance work, with a Fulton Hogan team sitting inside Wellington’s water.
It is unclear whether the contractor or contractor being investigated by the Commission of Commerce were in any of the panels or in the alliance.
Panel members at their establishment in 2019 were E. Carson & Sons, Brian Perry, GP Friel, Construction Contracts Limited (CCL), En Ramsbottom, Juno Civil, Fulton Hogan, Dew Construction and Hydrotech (which has been purchased by TDG Environmental).
Wellington water documents available publicly showed that Wellington Pipelines Ltd and HEB construction were added to the fold.
RNZ has requested comments from each company, in addition to the construction of DEWS, which is no longer listed in the registration of companies.
Fulton Hogan said he was not under any investigation, while CCL, Juno Civil and en ramsbottom refused to comment, citing contractual obligations that prevented him from doing so.
Wellington water reports found that the ‘Capex Panel’ model meant that there was no insufficient supervision, double work handling, and extra contract management costs.
Photo: RNZ / REECE PADIER
Wellington Water said it has since changed the way it hired the work.
“Now we move to a model where we have a direct contract and a relationship with all the main subcontractors.
“This will give us better work supervision, reduce duplication handling, allow us to obtain the right contractor for the necessary work and save on contract management costs.”
He also created a new performance structure for the alliance “, making sure the teams are well positioned to focus only on network operations and maintenance and increasing efficiency.”
Fulton Hogan defends costs
AECOM’s summary report found that non -planned Wellington maintenance costs per kilometer of tube were three times four other advice in which they were compared between 2019 and 2022.
But he also said, “Operations and hand rates -of -the -corner and plants were fair and reasonable compared to the competitive accusations of the sector, and AEcom observed that if something they looked a little low.”
A spokesman for Fulton Hogan pointed out for this comment and said that the company’s margin in his work was pre-covered for the deadline of his contract with Wellington Water.
“As also observed in the summary report, a greater maintenance expense may reflect the condition of the network, which we would agree,” they said.
New Zealand civil contractors, executive Alan Pollard, said Morning report It was difficult to compare the cost of network repairs in Wellington with others across the country.
“The necessary maintenance on Wellington’s network is substantially larger than anyone else,” he said.
“So if you are analyzing the cost three times, we are doing the work three times, then we are anywhere else.”
Pollard said he was not aware of the trade committee investigation, but was confident that members properly managed any conflicts of interest.
The association gave its members information on how to comply with the Commerce Law, and had a code of ethics that members must comply with, he said.
