The Southland District Council is bracing itself for a supply chain backlash from Cyclone Gabrielle.

Council project delivery group manager Nick Hamlin informed the council finance and assurance committee on Wednesday council suppliers had told staff to expect delays to normal supply lines.

"We are hearing noise but haven’t seen actuals [delays] yet.

"But we believe it’s coming," he said.

Mr Hamlin also said staff were developing contingency plans in an attempt to mitigate any effect on council operations.

The council also expected the next three-year Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency funding cycle to be affected.

"It would be remiss of us not to have a contingency plan around that into a new LTP [long-term plan] funding year."

The council had fought hard for the funding from Waka Kotahi NZTA, but might be forced to reprioritise projects and work schedules, he said.

Committee chairman Bruce Robertson said the contingency plan was "music to my ears", but hoped it would not be needed.

Council transport strategic manager Hartley Hare said he expected the council maintenance budget to remain at a similar level, but it would not cover a 14% increase in costs.

The council managed almost 5000km of road — the nation’s largest roading network.

"So unless we’re going to see an equivalent increase in the way our roading activity is funded through Waka Kotahi, in real terms we’ll be going backwards."

He acknowledged Waka Kotahi NZTA was already experiencing revenue pressure without the added burden of the cyclone recovery work, and expected the North Island to have a higher priority in the contestable road fund unless the crown topped up the fund.

"Unless there’s a change to the way roading activity revenue is collected nationally, and a change to the way the recovery of the road network in the North Island is funded, there are definitely going to be implications for Southland District Council from a budget point of view in the next long-term plan and the next three-year Waka Kotahi funding cycle."

Mayor Rob Scott was sympathetic to those affected by the cyclone and was closely monitoring the situation.

"Our roading network is absolutely critical to the way we live and do business in Southland district," he said.

A Waka Kotahi NZTA spokesman said the cyclone storm damage would require additional resources to restore the highway links, but it had not expected funding to other regions to be affected — in the same way the regions were unaffected by the Kaikoura-North Canterbury highway rebuild after the earthquake in 2016.

The spokesman said Southland’s allocated regional transport and safety funding remained in place. It stood by its commitment to keep Southland and Otago as a major investment focus for the 2021-24 funding round, supplying $636million for road maintenance and renewals.

 

Written by Toni McDonald