Fulton Hogan Ashburton has been awarded a five-year, $40.7 million operations and maintenance contract to look after the Ashburton District Council’s roading network.
The Ashburton District Council has the fourth-largest road network in the country, with 2622km of roads (1522km sealed) and 188 bridges.
Mayor Neil Brown, who sat in on the tender process, expects improvements and that the stronger contract will be adhered to.
“We need to get value for money.”
Brown said the recent residents’ survey showed an improved rating for the roading network.
“With this tender being let, we expect more improvements to come.”
Fulton Hogan had previously held the contract for around 15 years but was replaced by HEB Construction in 2020.
HEB’s $30 million, five-year contract included an option for a two-year extension.
HEB requested the extension, but the council declined in October 2024 after a tied 5-5 vote.
Mayor Brown cast the deciding vote, sending the contract out for tender earlier this year, with two tenders received.
Infrastructure and open spaces group manager Neil McCann said the evaluation stage involved staff, the mayor and two councillors, and considered price and quality on an equal basis.
The new operations and maintenance contract starts on December 1.
It covers daily maintenance across the roading network, such as filling potholes, replacing road signs, grading unsealed roads, weed spraying, street sweeping in townships, and responding to emergencies.
The contract also consists of seasonal works such as sealed road dig out repairs in summer, unsealed road maintenance metalling, ice gritting, and snow clearing.
McCann said the road network needs a lot of attention, as many roads are close to the end of their life.
“The challenge for us is to try and maintain the road network with limited funding, with priority given to work addressing road user safety.
“It is always a balance trying to maintain the condition of the network with the limited budget allocated.
“Unfortunately, much like all councils in New Zealand, we don’t have sufficient funding to improve the condition of the whole network, so we have to focus on the worst sections of the network with the funds available.”
Earlier this year, the council also awarded the $7m, two-year reseals contract to ACL again.
