2023-04-21 - Community encouraged to have their say on Rangitāiki Spillway
Bay of Plenty Regional Council is encouraging residents living or working in and around Edgecumbe to have their say on the Rangitāiki Spillway project.
The Spillway needs to be upgraded as it is part of the Rangitāiki Floodway, a key piece of flood defence infrastructure to help protect the community in a flood event.
In an event, the Floodway and Spillway upgrades will help divert water away from the Rangitāiki River. This helps reduce the risk of significant flood damage to both rural and urban areas (for example, the economic damage of the 2017 event was estimated to be $95M).
Engineering Manager Mark Townsend says since Regional Council last consulted with the community on the project in 2020, the estimated cost to upgrade the Spillway has increased.
The purpose of the online survey is to have a conversation about why that is, how it will affect ratepayers and what the options are in a challenging economic climate.
“High inflation, rising interest rates, Covid-19 and high labour costs have led to price hikes across all sector, including construction.”
He adds that during the detail design phase of the project, river modelling and ground investigations identified key risks that needed to be addressed.
“These risks were seepage and erodibility (scour) of the structures when the Spillway is in operation, as well as a need to create certainty that the Spillway would achieve the required flows into the Floodway.
“Since meeting with the community in 2020, the Spillway has been designed to address these issues, better manage water flows over the Spillway and give the community reassurance that it will perform as required. These design changes include additional concrete work, sheet piling around the structure for seepage control, drainage and paddock contouring.”
The current estimate to construct the revised design in its entirety is $7.8M (less $2.1M of central government funding), a $5M increase from the original estimate ($2.8M). The increased costs will be passed on to ratepayers via targeted rates.
Further to the online survey, a community session was held on Saturday 15 April at the Edgecumbe War Memorial Hall (corner of Kauri Street and Main Street) to meet with affected ratepayers and discuss the impacts.
Have your say online: www.boprc.govt.nz/rangitaiki-floodway