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Guardian
Ashburton
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www.guardianONLINE.co.nz
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
FIRST PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 27, 1879
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Council A new king worthy of a celebration tender process ‘not fair’ By Sam Morton
By Sue Newman The Ashburton District Council is not playing fair when it comes to giving local firms a chance to bid for its work, a construction company director says. Bradfords was one of seven construction companies that registered interest in building the EA Networks Centre but it did not make the cut when the council selected its preferred tenderers. These were all out of towners - Naylor Love, Hawkins and Fletchers. With the company’s track record of successfully completing several national multi-million dollar projects, director Mark Wilson said he had anticipated it would at least be given an opportunity to tender for the work. “We weren’t told why we missed out. If we’d been on the tender list and we’d missed out, that’s okay. It would have cost the council nothing to have four tenderers while it would have cost us to tender, but we were prepared to do that.” If Bradfords had won the tender, money would have been spent locally and there was every chance now that money would be spent out of town, Mr Wilson said. “What really irks us is that the council just won’t back local businesses, they’re not giving local businesses the opportunity to compete.” Mr Wilson believes Bradfords has a good track record on large projects that should have seen it given the opportunity to submit a tender. “We are definitely qualified to do this. We teamed up with Rangers who did the Caroline Bay project in Timaru and we’ve built a huge coal bunker 14 metres into the ground at Clandeboye, and our pre-cast division was involved in the Rolleston pool.” The council, however, believes it has put the safeguards in place to ensure as much as possible is given to local business, in spite of the three companies chosen to submit tenders all being from out of town. Council property manager John Rooney said that this requirement was made very clear to all three. An attachment to the tender document states: “Council is very aware of the high profile this project has and is also conscious of the high degree of financial support received in respect of donations received from local businesses. With this in mind council will
Mark Wilson require that the tenderer provides evidence of local Ashburton businesses being afforded an opportunity to provide prices for appropriate sub-trades and services and where appropriate, nominating such businesses as sub-contractors/suppliers. Council reserves the right to accept or reject any sub-contractor as part of its consideration of the tender.” Mr Rooney said the seven companies that registered their interest were evaluated against a raft of criteria and the three chosen had a very good track record on projects like the EA Networks Centre. “As part of their pricing they are required to give proof that they’ve provided local sub contractors with the opportunity to submit prices. This has been through a robust process.” The clause requiring local pricing was described by Mr Wilson as “a Clayton’s clause”. When the Timaru City Council built the Caroline Bay Centre it let the contract to Timaru construction company Rangers. City Council district services manager Ashley Harper said the council wanted as much of the money it spent on the centre to be spent locally, but to secure the deal Rangers had to submit a competitive tender. It was the lowest tenderer. Timaru ran a similar tender system to Ashburton where registration of interest was called. From the nine who registered four were invited to tender. Some local firms did not make the cut, he said. With the Timaru centre work components were secured nationally and internationally, Mr Harper said.
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Leen Braam’s Dutch pride shone through yesterday, as his native country crowned its first king in more than 100 years. The Ashburton business owner and his wife moved to New Zealand 30 years ago, but he insists his patriotism for the Netherlands will never falter. About a dozen Ashburton/ Netherland locals, decked in bright orange and singing homeland songs, boarded a mini-van last night, to head to Christchurch and share in the celebrations of the monumental occasion in monarch history. The locals were attending a party hosted by a Dutch network in Christchurch. Ahead of Queen Beatrix’s abdication last night, Mr Braam was buzzing with excitement. “This really is a once in a lifetime event for me and many other living Dutch – it’s quite a special moment and I am thrilled to be around for it,” Mr Braam said. “I am as much a Kiwi as I am a Dutchman, but I will always have pride for the Netherlands and I will always respect my traditions. “It’s going to be quite some party, I would think ... I’m glad I’m not driving,” he said. However, the prospect of a male ruling the country will be short-lived as King WillemAlexander only has daughters. Queen Beatrix delivered her farewell speech and urged her country to support her 46-yearold son, Crown Prince WillemAlexander – who now officially rules the throne. Willy Leferink, also of Ashburton, was eager to see the occasion unfold. “It will be great to have a man in power, but we know it won’t be for long,” he laughed. “Being part of this moment is a matter of belonging, being a ‘Dutchie’ you still have that tribal nature.” Last night, Queen Beatrix, in conjunction with her 75th birthday, signed the papers and the festivities began. In her farewell speech, before she abdicated the throne, she wished her son well. “Now that my oldest son is to take over this fine and responsible job, it is my deep wish that the new royal couple will
photo kirsty clay 300413-kc-053
This contingent of Ashburton residents were headed to Christchurch to celebrate the crowning of King Willem feel themselves supported by your loving trust,” she said. “I am convinced that WillemAlexander will apply himself with true devotion for everything a good king is obliged to do.” More than a million people were expected to be in Amsterdam yesterday, with uniformed police, plainclothes officers and an untold number of civil servants on hand to coordinate the logistics. Among the notables were Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, and the Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako. Queen Beatrix had served on the throne since 1980. Beatrix now a princess, P7
photo AP
Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima (right) and Princess Beatrix wave from the balcony of the Royal Palace in Amsterdam,
Principals welcome radical exam changes By Myles Hume Plans to scrap compulsory end-of-year NCEA examinations have been met with the approval of Mid Canterbury principals. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) has indicated it wants pupils to sit their NCEA examinations online – and when they feel like it. And it is a move that has won over local secondary principals. Ashburton College principal Grant McMillan labelled it “a brilliant idea”, saying it could spell the end of sitting exams in the summer months. “It will make a real difference,
it’s the next step in the evolution of assessment ... the individual needs for each student will be better catered for,” Mr McMillan said. “The idea is that when students are ready they can sit their exams, much like a driver’s licence, and if they get some things wrong that’s fine, they can do it again.” Mr McMillan said it would mean pupils could get their strong subjects out the way early in the school year, and put more time into other areas they struggled with. He said it could also lead to a semester-type model where pupils took up new subjects half
way through the year, or open opportunities to gain industry experience before pupils left school. Mount Hutt College principal John Schreurs said the end-ofyear exam model was “artificial” and believed it was more effective for pupils to learn a subject, then sit an assessment soon after. NZQA predicts the new system could be in place within eight years, and a bank of exams would be available to prevent cheating and plagiarism. Mr McMillan could not put a timeframe on when it would become a reality, but predicted it would happen “when the tech-
nology is ready”, something Mid Canterbury schools were already adopting. However, Mr McMillan said there would still be a number of hoops to jump through. He said it would be “complicated” for teachers to handle classrooms with pupils who had already sat assessments while slower learners were still learning other modules. Also, schools would need to have the technology in place. But the big question both Mr McMillan and Mr Schreurs wanted to ask was how will the marking schedule work? Mr Schreurs hoped people would still mark exams rath-
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er than computers, because if exams were marked digitally then it could mean the New Zealand education system would move into a multi-choice exam and take away the opportunity for pupils to showcase their understanding and knowledge. Mr McMillan agreed. “Some things by their nature, whether it be maths or statistics, may be easier to electronically mark rather than English or history which has more prose or essay answers. “You can’t have people with the capability to mark these exams sitting around a table in Wellington just in case an exam falls out of the sky.”
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