Tauranga City Councillor Rick Curach says ‘information that Tauranga City Aquatics Ltd let the hot pools development contract to Mainzeal' was discussed at a public meeting on March 14.

The meeting was recorded, but the first 20 minutes of it, during which the TCAL contract was discussed, is lost.

Rick Curach says some bad practices were undertaken in the future planning for the Mount Hot Pools.

'I asked why TCAL had expended significant amounts on detailed design, undertaken a tender process and awarded the tender when the project did not yet have resource consent,” says Rick.

'TCAL CEO Tania Delahunty explained that it had to complete the full detailed design in order to establish the water volumes etc for the consent application and that TCAL awarded the tender for expediency ie secure a competitive price and no delay in commencing construction.

'Normally only a concept design would be all that's needed for consent purposes to establish the scope of the project and include just enough detail for consent purposes.

'I then asked if there would be any penalty payment to the successful tenderer if the resource consent was not granted.

'Tania said that there would not be. There was a penalty clause in the agreement if council decided not to construct the project. I have not been told the amount, but understand it was significant.

He was shocked when he heard that TCAL completed a detailed design and awarded a tender last year, says Rick.

'I have never heard of such a process being undertaken when delivering a significant project.

'It seems so illogical and a gross waste of public funds given the risk of not securing a resource consent.”

Commissioner Greg Hill has refused consent for the $7.5 million hot pools expansion project. His decision was made public yesterday. Read more about this here.