Unwanted items up for sale-seven years later

An Audit Office stock take report for June 2009 on the Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning uncovered five 40 litre containers of acid had been stored in a container for the last seven years.
The report is in Part 2 of Audit’s first quarter report 1 July 2009 to 30 September 2009 tabled in Parliament on Monday 23 November 2009 by Audit’s Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Sir Terepai Maoate.
The acid had been purchased by the former Energy department for the Pukapuka solar projects. At $200 per container their total value was $1,000.
Audit also found some “L” beams made originally for the Mitiaro Harbour project but due to a change to the plan they were no longer needed. They had been stored for a number of years and the six beams at $700 per beam were worth a total of $4,200.
Surely if these items are no longer of any use, they should be sold off? The Ministry in its response of 11 August 2009 to the Audit report has indicated it has no internal use for the items and will tender these items out to the public.
While Audit staff were present, a non government vehicle drove into the compound to return some PVC pipes. No staff were on hand to process and record the return and the compound was not secure or monitored.

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