Update on Infrastructure projects in the Pa Enua
Water, waste and sanitation remain top priority for Government and the Pa Enua are no exception, says the Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning acting Secretary, Donye Numa.
Amongst the project to address the needs of the Pa Enua for increased water supply include the $2.2 million Northern Waters project which delivered an extra water storage capacity of 1,611,000 litres in the Pae Tokerau.
The project was sponsored by the New Zealand Goverment and implemented by MOIP and contracted to project manager, Romani Katoa under the supervision of Ngateina Rani of MOIP. Katoa reports that the project is complete on all islands in the project.
Aitutaki projects
On the island of Aitutaki, the Vaimaru Water supply project is being launched, subject to MOIP recruiting a project manager to oversee the water supply upgrade project.
The project is improve and redevelop the Vaimaru pump station inland of Arutunga that was damaged during Cyclone Pat. Basic repairs have been made so that the pump station is a workable state awaiting the upgrade funded by Government in partnership with the New Zealand and Australian Governments.
A new concrete pump station will be built and a water delivery line will be laid to to the water tank at the hospital in Takapora. Arutunga, Reureu and Nikaupara will benefit from the upgrade as they now depend on water from the Vaitekea gallery, which is said to be struggling to meet current demands.
Waste management in Aitutaki
An unwelcome legacy of Cyclone Pat was the amount of roofing iron that needed to be cleared from the island during the recovery and reconstruction phase. The contract to remove the scrap metal was awarded to Recycle Cook Island, a joint venture between John Wichman of JLW and General Transport. The workers are from the local people with Wichman acting as project manager. RCI report that the Island Administration are delighted with what has been achieved in removing the mountain of mangled roof iron and scrap metal from their island. . The project is sponsored by NZAID.
Mangaia PACC Project
Projects to try and reduce the vulnerability of our islands to the effects of climate change and sea level rise is also a very important priority as identified after the disastrous 2005 cyclone season. .
One such project is the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change programme (PACC) being conducted in Mangaia. The areas of concern are the airport, wharf and connecting road.
The project is science based and involved field studies in Mangaia by a team of PACC and NIWA scientists to make geospatial surveys and gather data on wave actions, sea levels, identify areas prone to sea surge, and depths of the lagoon and reef and much more.
MOIP engineer Vaipo Mataora is the PACC coordinator here and works closely also with Met Office and NES, with Vaitoti Tupa the national focal point for the project.
PACC and NIWA scientists visited Cook Islands in November and presented their findings to Government and relevant agencies before visiting Mangaia to present their findings to the Island Administration and others. They also held workshops for the engineers and technical staff at MOIP in how to make the best use of scientific data gathered for planning purposes.
For instance, from the data gathered, NIWA scientist have compiled a coastal inundation calculator which is calculates the areas sea surge can reach in extreme weather conditions Such data would influence engineering decisions on how and where to build important infrastructure projects. The project is funded by GEF and UNDP supported by SPREP and AUSAID. MOIP

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