The Infrastructure Football
The time has come for all interested parties to pick up the ball and run with it

Driven through any good potholes lately? How’s your water pressure? Better yet, how’s your water supply?
Roads, water, sanitation, waste disposal, energy, airports, seaports – these all fall under the umbrella of ‘infrastructure’. It’s been a favourite football for politicians, government agencies, bankers, aid donors, contractors and community groups alike to kick around.
Everyone has talked about infrastructure for years. Unfortunately all those conversations have resulted in little in the way of actual work being accomplished.
In the meantime, our roads fall apart, our water runs out and our lagoons turn into cesspools. Not exactly the postcard-perfect paradise visitors are going to rave about, is it?
There are signs, however, that something is happening. The Asian Development Bank has tucked some US $10 million into Government’s coffers specifically for priority infrastructure projects, thus eliminating any reason to bleat about a lack of funds.
Last week’s Infrastructure Sector Forum was a positive development as well, gathering in one place the decision makers, the dream merchants, the money men and those who actually get their hands dirty for a living. The idea of the forum, in a nutshell, was to begin the process of eliminating the red tape, the bureaucracy and the foot-dragging so a start can be made on improving the nation and the lifestyle of those who call it home.
Turama visited the forum to ask a number of the attendees when taxpayers are finally going to see their tax dollars put to good use.

The Organizer
Elizabeth Wright-Koteka, the director of Central Policy and Planning, said the aim of the forum was to come up with a better direction in terms of approaching infrastructure development.
“Hopefully, from this meeting, we’ll be able to sit down and chart a way forward in terms of how we develop our infrastructure,” she said. “Obviously, infrastructure development is a very costly process, and we are a country with limited resources, so we need to work out what infrastructure can we put in place within the constraints that we have.”
Wright-Koteka noted that a lot of the problems surrounding infrastructure were of the institutional variety.
“Obviously, as a first step, let’s tidy those things up and come up with a system that can work, and work better,” she said. “Hopefully, out of this forum, we’ll get a lot more cohesiveness in the system – clarity of roles, cut out the overlap and the duplication – that kind of thing. And get people focused on what they’re actually meant to be doing.”
She said it’s going to take people dedicated to improving the country to spur on the projects that will improve the infrastructure situation.
“People who know what they’re doing, people who have the capacity to do what they’re doing,” she said. “Of course, we need the political will to implement things. At the end of the day, Cabinet makes the decisions on how we progress as a country. And we need the support of our stakeholders, of the community. Government just has to realize the meaning of the term ‘public servant’. You are a servant of the people.”

The Government Ministry
Otheniel Tangianau, the acting head of ministry for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning said that, while each infrastructure sector has its own unique challenges, there are some areas in which they are basically the same.
“For example, in the area of water and roads, our infrastructure is basically old and aged and needs to be repaired,” he said. “If you look at our water supply, it was set up about 40 years ago. Now, parts of that network are leaking and therefore we are losing a lot of resources out of the network. So we need to get in and replace those pipes as soon as possible. Same as the roads.
“On some of the Outer Islands, their harbours have been damaged by cyclones. They need to be looked at and developed, to the extent we can afford it. Airports on the Outer Islands are also critical: they need to be maintained in a way that is safe.”
Tangianau said the public has to realize that this work requires a lot of money, effort, investment and planning.
“The whole idea is to put down a plan that we can try and activate as soon as it is possible,” he said. “Over a long-term period, we can see the changes coming for us. Those things cannot be done in one year; it will take more than three years to start getting the results.”
Tangianau admitted one way to help pay for infrastructure improvements, especially in the area of water supply, is by initiating a user-pay scheme.
“Government can only expect to get a certain amount of revenue every year,” he said. “For the amount of money needed for upcoming projects, we need to look at alternative ways of funding our infrastructure. Obviously, user-pay has come up on the screen for many of the sectors, which include water and waste management. It’s an alternative the decision makers will have to look at.”

The Infrastructure Committee
Formed in 2008, the committee oversees all infrastructure projects in the Cook Islands, including harbours, airports, energy, roads, buildings, water and sanitation.
“Basically, we’re mapping infrastructure for the next 25-30 years, as well as short-term,” said committee member Romani Katoa, an architect. “Water and sanitation are very important, especially for Rarotonga. For the Northern Group, in particular, they’ve been left out of the equation for a very long time. They just need basic infrastructure to have a better quality of life.”
Katoa said the committee is helping to close the gap between the policy planners and the people actually on the ground.
“We need to streamline everything,” he said. “We need to all work together to achieve the same result. Because, at the end of the day, if we are working together, we’ll have better roads and better water. It does take time, but we’ve also wasted a lot of time just talking about it. You have to look after your basic infrastructure just to maintain a higher quality of living.”
Civil engineer Des Eggelton only recently joined the committee but admitted he has long been one of the voices calling for bureaucracy to back off to allow some real progress to be made.
“I think the people are sick of listening to what we might do or could do, and I’m one of those as well,” he said. “Let’s move on to actually doing something.”
Eggelton said the two areas that are very close to starting involve water improvement and sanitation.
“People want to see the roads improved but the roading improvement will not come until the water improvement is completed,” he said. “Because, obviously, the ring main needs to go around the main road system and there’s no sense in upgrading the roads until we put the water in.”
When it comes to pinning blame on someone for the endless list of stalled projects, Eggelton points the finger at the government ministries.
“The ministries haven’t got the depth of expertise, the depth of capacity,” he said. “There are too few people trying to do too much instead of being focussed into a particular zone of work activity.”

The Financiers
The Asian Development Bank specializes in funding infrastructure projects and has played an important role in this country’s development.
“We’ve been assisting the Cook Islands for a number of years, through technical assistance, providing advice as how infrastructure in the Cook Islands should be prioritised and managed and developed,” said Richard Phelps, a senior infrastructure specialist with the ADB.
Phelps said the Infrastructure Sector Forum showed that most of the key players are finally on the same page.
“We need a solid structure for prioritization of infrastructure requirements,” he said. “And then get those requirements into a long-term budgeting process so they can be developed in a rational timeframe.
“You can’t develop a project in a year – an ABD-financed project would take a minimum 18 months to develop. Some patience is required but here in the Cook Islands, a lot of the needs have been known for a very long time.”
Phelps said the focus of the bank’s current technical assistance is to assist Government in putting procedures in place to prioritise and finance projects.
“We’re pleased to see things moving,” he said. “I think things are starting to happen.”
Peter Goodwin is the team leader of an ADB-funded project to assist Government in preparing policies for infrastructure development and maintenance, and is currently helping to develop policy statements for water, transport, sanitation and waste disposal.
“We are looking at ways of managing the country’s assets on behalf of the people,” he said. “Things like water supply systems, the roads, etc. And then we are looking at the ways these services are organized and making recommendations to Government to perhaps reform the way the structure is organized.
“Over time, these changes will help the people get what they want from the services that Government delivers. The Government is here to manage these resources and assets on behalf of the people. Effectively, the people own them and the government manages them.”

The Outer Islands
Aneru Tautu is currently the finance officer for the Minister of Culture but, as a former mayor of Aitu, he has firsthand knowledge of the infrastructure challenges facing the other islands in the country.
“The main issues for us in the Outer Islands are transportation, water, the power source and, of course, the roads,” he said. “Another big issues that we have to live with is waste disposal. Every year, we have a situation with our power supply and also with our water. Dealing with it is part of the culture of the islanders.”
Based on what he heard at the forum, Tautu conceded the Outer Islands will have to be a bit more patient when it comes to infrastructure.
“Given the economic situation we are in, I’m sorry to say that we should look after Rarotonga today,” he said. “Develop Rarotonga so it can be our centre, in order to provide us economically to support our people in the Outer Islands. If Rarotonga is not given the opportunity to attain the level where it can sustain its economy properly, I don’t think the Outer Islands will fare very well over the next five years.”

The Environmentalist
Alistair Macquarie doesn’t mince his words when asked why he insists sewage and waste water disposal top his suggested list of infrastructure priorities.
“We have a time bomb waiting to go off into the Muri area,” he said. “The lagoon is silting up and it’s becoming overgrown with algae blooms.”
Macquarie said all it would take is a mild winter followed by a hot summer to produce a repeat of the Irritant Syndrome episode of 2003-04 that tore a great bloody chunk out of the tourism industry.
“Should that happen again, I predict this economy would just crash, because no one would come here,” he said. “Our economy would just die overnight.”
The solution, Macquarie said, is to inspect all of Rarotonga’s septic tanks.
“Those that are leaking, we get aid to help fund the repair of each tank,” he said.
Recycling is another topic near and dear to Macquarie’s heart.
“We’ve got to be seen to be doing something as far as keeping our environment clean,” he said. “The basic thing that every man, woman and child on this island can do is recycle their own rubbish.”
Macquarie said user-pay is not the way to force people to recycle. Instead, aid money should be sourced, a solution he said would be viable were it not for Government roadblocks.
“At the moment, a lot of these projects are being stopped at Aid Management,” Macquarie said. “I approached Aid Management in 2004 and said we needed compulsory recycling way back then. They said we wouldn’t get aid for the project. At the same time, I’d also spoken with the (NZAID) rep at the time and he was in favour of it.
“So if you’ve got the donor saying they didn’t think it was a bad idea, why is it that the people who are holding the key to the safe are saying it’s no good?”
Macquarie said funding such projects should be decided by the donor, rather than Government workers.
“I think Aid Management here is at fault because they’re not putting these things through,” he said. “Or, if they are putting it through, they’re not backing them enough. People from the public should be in on these discussions with donors and not just leave it to Government.”
Macquarie said basic infrastructure needs must be met.
“Supply clean water to everyone’s household, clean up everyone’s waste, supply a proper waste collection system – the fundamental, basic things,” he said. “Undeveloped countries around the world are doing it. Why can’t we do it? Because (Government) wasted money on unnecessary projects.
“We have no money for health, we have no money for education, we have no money for recycling. But, for some reason, we have $30 million to waste on the Mini Games and the under-21 netball. It’s the ministers at fault for allowing these sorts of things to go ahead when we have more pressing problems that should be dealt with.”

By John Ireland

Herald Issue 463 10 June
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