Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

A “very small dent” or black mark on a wall. A Raro spill on the carpet. A broken mop and bucket.

These are some of the issues that have divided landlords and tenants who have appeared before the Tenancy Tribunal in the past month, working out what is “wear and tear” and what counts as “damage” to a rental property.

Tenancy Services says fair wear and tear refers to the gradual deterioration of things that are used regularly by people living in a property. Tenants are not responsible for this provided they are using the property, or the chattels provided, normally.

But tenants are responsible for intentional or careless damage.

“An example of this would be where a stove element wears out from normal cooking. This is fair wear and tear. However, if the stove was being used to heat the kitchen and stopped working properly, this would not be considered normal use.”

It’s an issue that can cause a lot of consternation.

In one case heard last month, a landlord sought compensation for the $28.82 cost of replacing a mop and bucket, among more expensive items.

The adjudicator said the evidence did not prove the damage to the mop and bucket was more than normal wear and tear.

But in another, a tenant’s former partner spilled Raro on the carpet and the adjudicator was “satisfied that the damage was caused carelessly”.

Last month, a landlord who argued the walls had been damaged was told one area of damage looked to be a “very small dent or black mark” and fair wear and tear.

Another landlord was told that there was not enough evidence that the tenant caused damage by causing chips on a granite bench top or pin holes to her walls.

Cassie Metcalfe, of iRentProperty, said there was confusion among landlords and tenants about how the rules might apply.

“When we think of what’s reasonable, different people will have different interpretations of that.

“There’s a lot of things to consider. One is the number of occupants in the house, the length of the tenancy, the condition of things when the tenants first moved in. I think it takes all parties to apply a level of fairness and reasonableness to come to an agreement. There’s no clear cut line unfortunately.”

She said landlords should make sure their inspections were done to a good standard and records kept. Tenants should report issues.

“You want to make sure these are documented, photographed wherever possible. If there is wear and tear at the end of the tenancy this could end up going to the tribunal where the mediator or adjudicator is making a decision and they can rely on the evidence you have.”

Sarina Gibbon, director of Tenancy Advisory, agreed people entered tenancies with different expectations.

She said wear and tear could be thought of as “time doing its thing” while damage was “someone not doing their job”.

“When I reflect on talking to landlords and tenants it’s always that expectation if you’re on the landlord side of the equation that you expect the property to be left in a pristine condition – that the tenant should take extra care as if they own the property. Let’s be honest, we’ve all hired a car before, we know how we treat a hire car … it’s really about the relationship rather than nitpicking the little things.”

She said having a bit of room to move meant tenants and landlords had to engage with common sense and be pragmatic.

“In a way it is good that wear and tear is not strictly defined – I’m not convinced that it would serve the benefit of the sector to have it strictly defined but I understand that from a day to day it does create some frustration.

“When people are trying to nitpick a tenant for $30 damage I would say the problem isn’t the $30 problem, your biggest problem is that it is not a productive relationship.”

She said landlords were often caught out by betterment. They cannot expect to be put back into a position that is better than they were in before the damage occurred.

“The tribunal is consistently good at accounting for betterment when it is ordering compensation. If the tenant had damaged something the tribunal would say – let’s say we’re talking about carpet … the tribunal will account for the fact that it is 10-year-old carpet, you’re not going to get replacement value.

“This isn’t an insurance policy, this is about restoring the landlord back to the position the landlord would have been in if the damage had never occurred. I don’t think people go into the process expecting that they get betterment, they don’t consciously think about it because think they ‘I have to put in a new carpet so the tenant should pay for the carpet – what they don’t account for is the carpet had deteriorated for 10 years.”

NZ Property Investors Federation spokesman Matt Ball said that was a bigger problem.

“On the face of it, this seems like fair principle, however the practical application of it sometimes results in significant financial harm to the landlord. For example, you may have a perfectly good five-year-old dishwasher that has been fully depreciated, with a book value of zero. The tenant can literally destroy this appliance and the landlord cannot claim any compensation, even though the appliance may have had many years of useful service left.

“The reason for this unfairness is that depreciation isn’t a measure of the item’s actual value. Depreciation is an agreed way a business owner can offset the cost of assets against income over time. It is never a full recovery of the cost of the asset, so if the asset is damaged or destroyed, the landlord is left out of pocket. In the same way that insurance policies often have an agreed value for items covered, it would be good if the law was changed to allow the Tenancy Tribunal to set an agreed value for destroyed or damaged assets so that landlords aren’t financially disadvantaged when a tenant causes actual damage.”

He pointed to a case last year in which a landlord said insurance had covered a claim up to $15,000 for meth contamination but the cost had been $18,000 more.

The adjudicator said that after three years, things like linen, bedding, crockery and cutlery were deemed to have no value for tax purposes. The adjudicator said when things were taken out of the claim that had no residual value, there was $10,836 in damaged goods – below the insurer’s payout.

“What strikes me in this case is that the landlord is left worse off, even though, as the adjudicator states in their ruling, ‘the landlord should be returned to the position they would have been in had the tenant not breached their obligations, and should not be better or worse off’,” Ball said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Traditional property investment is losing ground to KiwiSaver and other managed funds as a preferred way to make money.

ASB’s latest Investor Confidence Survey for the fourth quarter ended in December (Q4) indicated owning your own home or having a property investment was no longer seen as providing the best returns among those surveyed.

Instead, KiwiSaver and managed funds emerged as the top two performers in the eyes of investors.

ASB senior economist Chris Tennent-Brown said the survey identified a shift in perceptions on what could deliver the strongest investment returns.

“Pretty amazing to see housing knocked off the perch,” he said.

“Despite all the global uncertainty, strong KiwiSaver and managed investment funds, those returns are flowing through to confidence in those products and outshining housing.”

The December (Q4) survey also indicated investor confidence rose 11 percent over the third quarter (Q3), with the lower North Island reporting the most significant rise with confidence rising to 10 percent in Q4, compared with 3 percent in Q3.

He said there had been a generational shift since the 1987 stock market crash saw large numbers of New Zealanders’ investments in shares.

“The generational divide is apparent with the over 60s holding steady in their belief that your own home is still the best investment, which is unsurprising.

“Gen Z on the other hand believe the best returns currently lie in investing in shares of publicly listed companies, signalling the rise of the DIY investor as an accessible path to growing your portfolio.”

Tennent-Brown said the survey underscored the importance of financial education and the evolving needs of investors.

“The under 30s have been leading the way in this shift in sentiment for some time, however this quarter’s findings show a change in sentiment among most other age groups.”

However, he said New Zealanders continued to be interested in buying homes to live in, as indicated in the increase in confidence in our Housing Confidence survey.

“I think it’s really interesting to see people hopefully separating housing as a way of putting a roof over your head, which of course is a big part of our security and aspiration in New Zealand, versus investment returns,” Tennent-Brown said.

“It just means perception of property as an investment is evolving.”

The ASB investor confidence survey had been tracking NZ market sentiment since 1997.

The latest survey was based on 672 online interviews in Q4 2025 with adults aged 18 years and older throughout New Zealand. A sample of this size had a maximum margin of error of 3.8 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. Fieldwork occurred between 1October – 16 December 2025.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Mortgage advice and finance firm Squirrel is to stop offering personal loans.

It has stopped accepting new loan appliations and from Monday would not invest in the personal loan investment class.

It said its portfolio would run down naturally as borrowers repaid their loans.

Chief executive David Cunningham said Squirrel started its peer-to-peer lending journey with personal loans.

But over time, almost all of the business had become secured residential mortgages.

“The personal loans portfolio is tiny – $4 million – versus other lending approaching $450 million. Fractionalisation of mortgages via peer-to-peer remains at the core.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A weak labour market has meant that many people have had small pay rises – or none at all – over the past year.

Seventy percent of workers received a pay rise of less than the rate of inflation last year, the CTU says, and 44 percent did not get a pay rise at all.

But some people received significant pay bumps, if data from Seek is anything to go by.

It said, based on the average advertised salary between September and December 2024 and the same period last year, handlers in manufacturing, transport and logistics had the biggest increase, at 15.5 percent to an average $58,240.

Systems engineers had a 12.8 percent increase, to $118,608. Educators, a wider group than teachers, had a 12 percent increase to an average $72,010.

Both maintenance technicians and process operators lifted more than 1 percent. Property managers were up 10.8 percent and planners 9.6 percent.

Health improvement practitioners, medical technologists, marketing specialists, ICT support analysts, manufacturing, transport and logistics planners, GPs and catering assistants also recorded increases more than twice the rate of inflation.

GPs had the highest overall pay of the roles listed, at an average $220,935.

Seek senior economist Blair Chapman said the growth in roles like catering and kitchen assistants was prompted by the ongoing recovery of tourism.

“The tourism growth in 2025, alongside growth in exports, also likely supported faster advertised salary growth in the manufacturing, transport and logistics industry, with roles like handler and process operator experiencing notable salary growth.

“The healthcare a medical industry saw demand grow steadily in 2025, recovering from its post-Covid low in December 2024. Alongside an increasing share of older Kiwis, who will drive an increase in the demand for healthcare, this saw some relatively quick advertised salary growth for roles like health improvement practitioner.”

Seek said there had been 20.1 percent growth in the number of job ads for construction year-on-year in January and 16.5 percent in industrial roles.

BNZ chief economist Mike Jones said the salary growth in the areas highlighted could be due to a mismatch between the skills required and those available among jobseekers.

“Firms are already reporting more difficulty finding skilled labour, which feels a touch early given the economic recovery is only just getting going.

“It’s clear the labour market overall remains weak, with wage growth likely to remain suppressed for a while yet. But there are clearly some skill mismatches out there putting some upward pressure on wages in certain parts. This seems to be more a story about limited labour supply – in part driven by several years of low net migration – than a sudden jump in labour demand.”

Westpac chief economist Kelly Eckhold said he regularly heard stories from businesses who found it hard to access specialised skills.

“Aggregate surveys indicate that while unskilled labour is widely available, skilled labour is tightening a little. Ongoing inward migration from foreigners points to that unmet demand.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Parents are not being put off by the tens of thousands it can cost to send their kids to private schools.

Government data shows that private, or independent, schools are growing at a much faster rate overall than their public school counterparts.

Between 2020 and 2025, ACG Parnell College grew its roll by 42 percent, from 1343 to 1908.

ACG Sunderland grew by 72 percent, from 496 to 853. ACG Strathallan grew 40 percent from 892 to 1245.

Scots College lifted 33 percent, Whitby Collegiate 143 percent, St Kentigern College 10 percent, St Cuthbert’s 14 percent and Diocesan School for Girls 12 percent.

Some public schools grew quickly over the same period too – Rolleston College added 94 percent to its roll and Rangitoto College 26 percent. Ormiston Junior College grew 135 percent.

But overall, independent or private schools grew roughly five times faster than public schools – they added 12.8 percent over the 2020 to 2025 period, compared to 2.6 percent for public schools.

One mother, who did not want to be identified, said she chose Huanui College, a private school in Northland for her child because it seemed to be the best quality of the school options available to her.

She was not happy with the school she was in zone for and did not like the idea of moving elsewhere just for two years before moving on.

“This option was a one stop shop and didn’t require change again potentially if we were happy with it. I felt the option of continuity was good and gave us a taster to see whether it would be right for high school.”

She said small class sizes were a bonus and it was a small school so teachers were able to get to know kids well. “Downsides are bus cost and annual fees… but also it’s not a match for all kids in my view.”

She said she was not necessarily a fan of private schools in general but the area was more limited in terms of the options available.

“I think the biggest thing you get there which is an advantage is the networking.”

Helen Hurst, hautū (leader) of operations and integration at the Ministry of Education, agreed the independent sector was growing.

She said independent student numbers had grown from 27,600 in 2010 to 33,000 in 2024.

“This growth is supported by a 2025 Budget boost of $15.7 million over four years, which raises the subsidy for independent schools by 11 percent, from $41.6 million to $46.1 million per year, to accommodate rising enrolments and inflation.”

Independent Schools of New Zealand chief executive Guy Pascoe said there was regional variation in demand. “In Auckland I think over 6 percent of students go to independent schools but across the country it averages around 4 percent. “

He said some parents were making “really big” financial sacrifices to send their children to the school of their choice. “Fees are definitely a challenge for many families.”

The fees could vary a lot. ACG Parnell College charges $30,000 a year for Year 7 to Year 10, and slightly more for older students.

King’s College charges $33,422 a year for Years 11 to 13. Whitby Collegiate charges $23,815 a year.

“Schools do everything they can to keep their fees as affordable as possible but the cost of education is going up and up and up. With limited government funding, schools really are forced to increase their fees. That’s something that schools worry about that tipping point, when does it become too expensive?”

He said there was a range of reasons why parents chose a private school.

“It might be small class sizes or high academic outcomes, it could be that the school has a particular curriculum or educational philosophy that aligns with what the family is looking for.

“There might be a focus on service or co-curricular activity or it could be faith-based. We have some schools that deliver programmes specifically for children with high learning needs like dyslexia or high anxiety and that kind of thing as well.”

He said, if the students who were in the independent sector shifted to public schools, the cost would be “astronomical” for the government.

“At the same time, parents who send their children to independent schools are paying GST on those fees. And that GST is about twice as much as what the sector receives in funding from the government, so the government is actually in the fiscal beneficiary of the independent school sector,

“Independent school rolls are increasing, so independent schools are increasingly taking that burden of delivering an education to students. And we absolutely feel there’s more room for the government to recognise that.”

He said the recent increase in funding was the first in 15 years, even for inflation. “Our concern now is to make sure that we don’t start falling behind again because until we had that very modest increase there had been nothing. Schools at the moment are funded under a fixed appropriation, which means, the more students in the system, then the per student funding goes down.”

Associate Professor Naomi Ingram from the University of Otago College of Education said the increase in enrolments was a result of policy shifts to encourage “market-style competition” in education.

“It is also fuelled by parental anxiety about wanting ‘the very best’ for their children.

“New Zealand must tread carefully because we have a different context from the UK or Australia. We already have a significant achievement gap between students who perform at the highest levels and those at the lower end, and that gap is larger than in many comparable OECD countries (e.g., see PISA). Importantly, it is linked to socioeconomic status. Educational inequality in New Zealand is not random. It reflects broader structural inequities.

“Expanding the private and charter sector risks deepening this divide. Private schools are typically able to spend more on staffing, facilities, and enrichment, and operate outside key elements of the national curriculum framework. When public funding flows into parallel systems, it can dilute the collective strength of our public schools and concentrate advantage among families who already have greater access to resources.

“New Zealand’s public education system is one of our national strengths. It is staffed by highly qualified teachers and has been underpinned by a national curriculum designed to provide equitable opportunities for all learners. Rather than fragmenting the system, we should be investing in strengthening it.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington business Paradigm Group has bought the GrabOne brand and assets.

It relaunches on Tuesday, offering vouchers for discounts at local businesses.

Global Retail Marketplace, which bought GrabOne in 2021, went into liquidation last October. At the time, liquidators said it was due to funding constraints.

Many consumers were left with vouchers they were not able to use, although some businesses said they would still honour them.

Paradigm said it already had 30 businesses on board for the relaunch.

Jonty Hodge, chief executive of Paradigm Group, said GrabOne going into liquidation was not just a platform shutting down.

“Real merchants lost a channel that was genuinely working for them, and over 350,000 Kiwis lost a way to discover what’s on their doorstep. For some of these businesses, GrabOne was generating millions in revenue. That matters. We couldn’t just watch that disappear.

“We understand it was a really difficult time for a lot of merchants and customers as well. We went and talked to a bunch of them, we talked to a lot of businesses and we understood there was something worth saving … there was a community of customers and businesses worth saving and that’s something that we’re looking into the future, how we can stand up the platform again and make it a discovery marketplace where businesses can acquire and find new customers. Customers can discover new places to eat, experience and do activities.”

He said the new business would not be able to honour any of the vouchers or deals offered by the previous owners.

If customers came to the new GrabOne business with questions, it would address that, he said.

“A lot of them would have done charge backs and stuff like that so they’ve still got avenues to go in that direction. For us, GrabOne felt like an iconic brand and that’s something we thought we can save and see if we can take it back to its roots … we’re focusing on escapes, experiences and activities. We’re putting a pause on the product side of things. We’ll re-look at that down the track but it will definitely have a really local lens when it comes to promoting products.”

Paul Raeburn is head of the new GrabOne and said it was good to return, having been involved almost 15 years ago.

“We were at the forefront of connecting people with local businesses, motivating Kiwis to explore more of the country. Last year’s liquidation marked the end of one chapter, but we always knew the platform still had so much to offer Aotearoa. This isn’t just a relaunch for nostalgia’s sake, but a reset focused on quality and long-term value.”

He said merchants had made it clear there were aspects of the previous iteration that were not working.

Dockside Restaurant and Bar general manger Conrad Banks said it had made more than $6 million in sales from GrabOne over time so the loss of the platform was a blow.

“We’re looking forward to having GrabOne back with a fresh start, backed by a Kiwi team that really gets how to help us grow, reaching new customers and turning first-time visitors into regulars.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Consumers’ appetite to spend is growing but many are still struggling to meet their loan repayment obligations.

Data from credit reporting firm Centrix shows consumer credit demand is up 8.3 percent compared to a year ago, driven in large part by mortgage holders shopping around for a better deal and refinancing their debt.

Loan arrears overall are lower than a year ago, but personal loan arrears have hit a 10-year high at 10.2 percent, up 6 percent on last year.

“Consumers with a personal loan that aren’t homeowners are experiencing more difficulty in paying those loans back and that’s probably because homeowners have had some relief through interest rate reductions,” said Monika Lacey, chief operating officer for Centrix.

“People that don’t own a home just aren’t getting that relief flowing through, and their food and insurance costs, for example, have remained at a higher inflated level, whereas homeowners are getting a little bit of relief on the interest rate side.”

The challenges loan holders are battling are also reflected in financial hardship numbers, with personal loan hardships up 45 percent year on year.

Mortgage holders lock in a better deal

Demand for new mortgage lending in the January quarter was up 34 percent on this time last year, with refinancing a major driver. Close to half of all new mortgage lending in December was for refinancing.

“We have seen switching between banks and there is definitely some competition, so consumers are doing the right thing and shopping around and trying to get the best deal.”

Almost three quarters of switching is happening between the four largest banks compared to 56 percent a year ago.

Signs of recovery but liquidations still high

Meanwhile, businesses appear to be struggling to get out of the mire with demand for credit falling and liquidations still at high levels.

The Centrix data shows business credit demand is down 1 percent on a year ago, indicating a lack of optimism among businesses.

Company liquidations rose to 2952 in the year to January, up 16 percent on last year, with 70 percent of those liquidations stem from Inland Revenue action on tax debt.

“There’s a massive clean-up going on and it’s not unexpected as it’s well known in the market,” Lacey said.

“I think the tail is long, but it shouldn’t get any worse than what it is.

“I think it’s also really important to point out that although the liquidations are higher than they’ve been for a while, when you look at the relevance by industry, it’s still really small.”

Lacey said sector-wise, construction is the leading contributor to liquidations followed by hospitality.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The country’s biggest e-waste recycling company is expanding its footprint.

Echo Technology is acquiring BMS, a specialist in secure data storage disposal and the refurbishment and resale of end‑of‑life IT equipment.

The acquisition price was not disclosed.

BMS, founded by Stephen Westcott‑Jones, focuses on IT asset disposition, including breaking down data storage drives and refurbishing and remarketing used computers and devices.

Echo chief executive Patrick Moynahan said the partnership aimed to create New Zealand’s leading full‑service IT and e‑waste lifecycle provider.

“We’re committed to building long‑term capability for sustainable technology lifecycle services and e‑waste processing in Aotearoa New Zealand, and this acquisition is a substantial step towards that ambition,” he said.

“Together, Echo and BMS repurpose more than 150,000 IT assets for resale and process over four million kilograms of electronic waste each year.”

Westcott‑Jones would become a shareholder in Echo and join the company’s board.

“The transaction will allow us to build on the strong foundations of BMS and take our customer offering to the next level by integrating with Echo,” he said.

Altered Capital – a local venture capital and private‑equity investment firm, and an existing investor in Echo – brought the two companies together and would remain invested in the combined business.

Altered made a strategic investment in Echo in 2025.

The companies would be integrated over the next 18 months but continue to operate separately in the meantime, with existing customer arrangements unchanged.

Moynahan said Echo would initially focus on improving household e‑waste recycling by working with councils and running neighbourhood collection events, before expanding further into corporate and government e‑waste recovery and refurbishment.

He said the merged company also plans to open a new recycling plant in Christchurch, complementing existing facilities in Auckland and Wellington.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The national grid operator says it will probably have to use a streamlined public works act a lot more in future to get land and access to expand the electricity transmission system.

A select committee is hearing submissions on the Public Works Amendment Bill that aims to streamline land acquisition powers and compensation.

Transpower’s Matt Fanning told MPs the last time they did it was for three properties in 2014 and it could take at least two years, sometimes more, if landowners appealed.

But it was now facing having to deliver an “unprecedented” amount of infrastructure both now and for the next 30 years with demand forecast to grow more than 60 percent by 2050.

“We are likely to need to use the PWA a lot more with that increasing work programme and that build and upgrade programme that we’ve got,” said Fanning.

“So we really need the Public Works Act to be fit for purpose and to enable us to deliver the much needed electricity transmission infrastructure at pace.”

The state-owned enterprise’s written submission said it backed the bill because it could cut a year off the standard timeline of two to five years to get property rights for projects.

‘Last resort’

Transpower later told RNZ it would be a “last resort” to use the Public Works Act to get an easement to build infrastructure including to connect new generation to the grid.

“We expect the significant majority of that land access to be negotiated on a commercial basis with landowners,” it said in a statement.

This was its usual process.

The bill would align it with what the New Zealand Transport Agency and KiwiRail already could do to acquire land, it said.

“Our preference is to negotiate land access with the landowner – and acquiring land access through the PWA is the last resort.

“It’s really important to us that we build and maintain effective long-term relationships with the people who host New Zealand’s grid assets on their land – we will be working together for generations.

“This gives Transpower added incentives to work constructively and for mutual benefit with landowners.”

Transpower said its track record showed it was typically considered good to work with.

About 30,000 New Zealanders had its assets on their land and 91 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with that in its last survey in 2024.

“We note that any decision to compulsorily acquire land access will remain with the minister – the legislative change under consideration would streamline the early stages of the process.”

It also wanted easier access to land for surveys and investigation.

Several submitters backed the bill’s intent to deliver infrastructure more efficiently but said it got the balance wrong.

Law Association property lawyer Phil Shannon said: “We took the overall view that the balance has been shifted too far by the amendment, too far towards speed and executive power and away from independent oversight of the courts and procedural fairness.”

The bill changes what the Environment Court would consider if a landowner appealed against an acquisition order.

The Public Works Act has had no significant reform since the 1980s, and before that the 1920s.

Shannon said the association believed it needed rewriting, not just amending.

The bill would update compensation payments and extend who was eligible such as where there were multiple owners, and introduce an incentive payment of 10 percent of land value up to a max of $100,000 for a quick agreement to sell.

Last August, a sibling bill was passed: The Public Works (Critical Infrastructure) Amendment Act 2025 created a fast-tracked acquisition pathway for designated critical projects, most of them roads, setting up bonus payments for land owners who sold quickly.

The bill before the committee now is more broad-brush; it is also among others that seek to fast-track infrastructure rebuilds after disasters, including the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill and Emergency Management Bill that have also been before select committees recently.

It would cut negotiation requirements and limit submissions by landowners, among other measures, after a disaster.

Water New Zealand stressed the bill had to match up with the other bills.

It said it should allow six years, not two, to respond to a disaster because fixing things took time.

It also sought a change so that climate change could be factored in by local authorities looking at acquisition.

A note on the bill said it “supports the government’s infrastructure delivery priorities, as set out in the government’s economic strategy ‘Going for Growth'”.

Along with several other submitters, Transpower wanted changes to the bill to introduce extra protections for Māori land.

Anaru Begbie of Raukawa Charitable Trust in south Waikato said the bill contained no express reference to Te Tiriti and should have, and should offer explicit protection for their land to avoid the unilateral decision-making of the Crown in the past.

“Treaty settlement redress land should not be subject to compulsory acquisition under this bill,” Begbie told the committee.

“Voluntary agreement should always be possible. Compulsory takings should not.”

Contractors who build infrastructure told MPs they backed the bill but needed to take care about conflict with local communities.

Fraser May of Civil Contractors NZ said: “If we streamline the process so much that the public has not had a good conversation with the client around why the project is going ahead, so the need for the project and what the project will involve for their land, then it can often be the contractor on the front line dealing with the angry community.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

On the first afternoon of road works being in effect on Queens Drive and High Street in Lower Hutt traffic is heavy, as businesses say they are worried how the nine month-long closure is going to hit their bottom line.

The intersection between Queens Drive and High Street is closed from March through to December as part of the SH2 Melling Transport Improvements, part of the Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi project, formally known as RiverLink.

The RiverLink works have already drawn the ire of local residents who have reported roadworks to date have caused gridlocks and long delays.

There have been reports that the traffic sometimes backs up the off-ramps and causes delays on the motorway.

Some say their commute times have tripled, hitting set after set of road works.

But others say the problems are worth bearing for the improvements the work will bring.

Have you been affected? Get in touch with: krystal.gibbens@rnz.co.nz

Project Director Matt Hunt said the work underway in Lower Hutt for the SH2 Melling Transport Improvements was significant and would have an ongoing effect on residents, businesses, and traffic.

“NZTA/Waka Kotahi is committed to minimising the impact of construction as much as possible. But, given the size and scope of the works, an impact on the community and traffic is unavoidable and some disruption is inevitable. This is normal when road layouts change, and we expect things to take time to settle.”

Concern for business bottom line

Owner of Lingams Barber and Beauty Ravineel Lingam was said in the short term he was worried it would hurt his business as he was concerned it would put people off coming to his shop.

But long term he expected to see the benefits of the project.

Helen, who works nears the road closure, said she could already see a gridlock forming by 1pm on Monday afternoon, and expected it would get worse during peak hour traffic.

In a post on social media Councillor Brady Dyer told commuters to use a mapping app while driving around the city.

“I’ve been using it religiously since Riverlink kicked off earlier this year and it’s been a lifesaver. It knows what’s closed, reroutes you automatically, and I’ve discovered parts of the city I didn’t even know existed.”

Some on social media expressed concerns that the continual road works meant there was no reprieve from congested and gridlocked streets across the city and lengthy commutes.

Others said they were resigned to the roadworks as essential infrastructure.

Agencies acknowledge delays frustrating

Hunt said keeping State Highway 2 flowing as efficiently as possible was a priority.

“We are closely monitoring real-time traffic flows and have adjusted traffic light phasing on the highway to keep vehicles moving.

“We do appreciate that our work near Melling is affecting travel times, as is the work being done by the Greater Wellington Regional Council, and the Hutt City Council, with the works they are managing.

“We acknowledge the disruption is frustrating and inconvenient for the public. But the work underway will result in new and better infrastructure which will bring significant benefits via a much improved and safer transport link between SH2 and Lower Hutt.”

Greater Wellington director of delivery Jack Mace said it and its Te Awa Kairangi partners were working together to make the programme of work as smooth as possible.

“This includes coordinated traffic management, sequencing works to avoid unnecessary overlap, ensuring clear detours and signage, and adjusting public transport routes to keep people moving. The partnership regularly reviews traffic conditions and community feedback to identify opportunities for improvement.”

Mace said they were aware the works were affecting travel in the area.

“We have heard from residents who are feeling the impact of the works, particularly around Melling and the CBD where traffic management and road closures are enabling the development of major Te Awa Kairangi future‑focused infrastructure, including the new bridge, upgrading the Melling interchange, relocating the train station and strengthening stopbanks,” he said.

“At the same time, we are also hearing from people who understand the scale of the programme and the value it delivers – improved flood protection, stronger connections to SH2, better public transport links, and a safer, more resilient Hutt Valley for decades to come. This long‑term vision is the driver behind the programme as a whole.”

NZTA advises alternative routes and modes of transport

NZTA said drivers could expect travel delays and should allow more time for their journeys.

People travelling at peak times were advised to use a mapping app to find the most efficient route for their travel.

“We would also encourage drivers to consider alternative routes – such as exiting at Petone or the Dowse Interchange when travelling into the Lower Hutt city centre or suburbs near the centre. Where possible and appropriate, people can also consider using active modes (such as walking and cycling), for journeys around the project area.”

People travelling into Wellington were also recommended to take the train to avoid delays on the roads.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand