Cyclone Pat renovation policy questioned
Many people living on the island of Aitutaki are still troubled and concerned with the aids funding from NZ Aid for those homes destroyed during cyclone Pat.
Aitutaki based resident Rere Mataiti recently expressed his concerns to CITV about this issue. He claims the way the organisers decided on the work to be carried out in the villages had been very unfair. He said many people were not happy with the rebuilding and work done on some of the homes. The actual plans on some of the homes to be renovated had been changed and it had upset a lot of people because set plans had been altered.
He said the renovation plan people understood, was that; category one, covered houses that lost two to ten roofing irons, category two was allocated to houses with more than ten iron roofs gone and walls partly destroyed, category 3 was much more devastation on the houses and category four was for homes completely lost.
Mataiti’s disappointment was over the change of planning in respect of some homes. He said there were two houses in category three that did not met the requirements. The organizers had changed one to a category one category with only new roofing irons replaced and the other category three house was replaced by a brand new home.
Mataiti is unsure whether this was favouritism by the organizers in the village in giving new homes to people they know and other homes receiving just a replacement roof as required in the plans set down for different categories.
Also, he was concerned about a new home that had been completely destroyed by the cyclone. It had been put in category four however, the builders only put on new roofing iron, and partly blasted the walls. Today the house is standing with much damage to the walls and rain getting through the gaps. The carpenters that worked on this house did not do a good job. The family involved was not given a brand new house to live in. He said it was sad and hurtful seeing the situation that some of the people of Aitutaki are going through.
He said the people of Aitutaki wanted more explanations. -Miimama Mautairi

Herald Issue 608 21 March
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