Peoples Republic of China should be thanked

Developer Tim Tepaki says the Chinese should be thanked for providing us with a free Courthouse and Police Station.
Asked for his view on Tuesday as to the current complaints about the Courthouse, Tepaki told the Herald someone pointed out a hairline crack on a wall to him and his immediate thought was the building structure was superior to those at Vaimaanga, in that some buildings at Vaimaanga were riddled with cracks whereas the courthouse wasn’t. He explained all buildings not founded on bedrock will settle on fill over time and show hairline cracks as they settle, and in the case of the courthouse he expects the builder would have piled and spread the building load on papa below and did a very good job. He added that settlement should be completed by now and it’s a simple matter of sealing the cracks and repainting the building to refresh it.
Tepaki said it’s clear enough embellishments on the building are looking tired and rusting in places, but it was to be expected as buildings located close to the sea will suffer salt spray damage that cause steel elements and fixings to rust, adding that its not a problem unique to the Cook Islands. He said NZTV One News last Friday night featured air-conditioning units that rusted in coastal areas of New Zealand, up to one kilometer inland from the shoreline, and pointed out the courthouse system performed better than expected given its close proximity to the sea.
Tepaki said the problem of the courthouse in a nutshell is the lack of planned preventative maintenance, which all good owner’s should program and not a contractor’s problem after the maintenance period is completed, adding that the courthouse contractor extending its maintenance period to one year was generous. He said the real issue is that government doesn’t have the money to properly maintain a building close to the foreshore and exposed to sea spray.
He said we should be thanking the Peoples Republic of China for the free Courthouse and Police Station and not whining about it, adding that pointing the finger at the Chinese for home grown problems is not nice. Tepaki added that if anything we should whining about the $8.8 million Airport Terminal taxpayers now have to pay for, as based on costing he received from Chinese contractors on two other projects it would be fair to say they could have shaved 40% off the airport terminal cost and taxpayers would be better off.
Tepaki said he doesn’t know who funded the project but it would be interesting to see at what interest cost, given that the Peoples Republic of China has soft loans available and Fiji, Samoa and Tonga are helping themselves to it while we prefer to endure toxic high interest loans.
By Charles Pitt

Herald Issue 463 10 June
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