The Taxpayers’ Union has now seen the engineering report provided to Rotorua City Council on the Hemo Gorge’s 3D printed monument to government waste paid for by NZTA, Rotorua ratepayers and others – and it is even worse than feared.

Rotorua Spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union, Jordan Williams, says “The report reveals that when contractors tried to install the monument last September, the pieces literally didn’t fit together. Contractors had to cut out pieces so the inner parts could fit. That cutting revealed the tubing structure has not been built to specifications, and as the report said engineers ‘cannot prove whether the defects observed are isolated or systematic throughout the inner and/or outer [monument] tubes’.”

“The report paints a totally different picture to the denials issued by Council officials.”

“It is unbelievable that the Council has sat on this report for months. Only last week, after concerns were raised by the Taxpayers’ Union has the Council done the responsible thing and erected a safety fence to prevent members of the public being hurt should the monument collapse.”

“While the Council was publicly denying there is any problem, it literally had contractors erecting a fence to ensure the public is kept safe from a potential collapse.”

“The monument is already fifty percent over budget, and now we’re looking at a potential rebuild!”

“This Rotorua ‘monument to government waste’ is truly living up to its name. It’s time the engineers at NZTA stepped in and took over this bungled Council vanity project.”

A copy of the engineering reports are available on request.

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