Praise for SCIRT but city work goes on

The work of the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) to repair Christchurch’s earthquake-damaged infrastructure is the focus of the latest dashboard released by Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration Nicky Wagner.

The Greater Christchurch Dashboard — Horizontal Infrastructure focuses on the construction activities of SCIRT over more than five and a half years.

“SCIRT construction officially wrapped at the end of June and its physical assets — including underground pipe networks, roads, bridges and pump stations — have been returned to Christchurch City Council,” Ms Wagner says.

“This was an absolutely enormous programme, worth about $2.2 billion (funded by Government and Council), and made up of more than 740 individual projects.

“So much of what SCIRT achieved now sits below ground and most people will never see it. There’s still more work to be done, we still have bumpy roads, detours and dug-up footpaths, but this dashboard highlights the sheer scale of the SCIRT programme.

“As a Christchurch resident, I was particularly impressed with the level of community engagement and communication.  More than 1.7 million copies of work notices were delivered to residents and businesses, 225 e-newsletters were produced, and more than 41,000 face-to-face meetings were held.

“I’d like to pay tribute to everyone involved in the SCIRT programme, particularly those on the ground, working to fix our horizontal infrastructure and manage relationships with residents.

“It’s important to note that the Council will continue its work to maintain, repair and improve the city’s roads.”

SCIRT was an alliance made up of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (formerly CERA); the NZ Transport Agency; the Christchurch City Council; and five major contractors responsible for the repairs — City Care, Downer, Fletcher, Fulton Hogan and McConnell Dowell.

SCIRT Executive General Manager Ian Campbell says more than $1.5 billion has been spent on the wastewater network alone.

“Key challenges included keeping the network operational while being repaired and minimising the considerable impacts on the community, and we thank everyone for their patience,” Mr Campbell says.

“We now have an infrastructure network that is stronger and better able to cope as a result of the modern materials, new technology and the latest construction.”