Kaikoura Earthquakes: Bring Back Ministry of Works?

Chris Trotter is proposing New Zealand re-create the Ministry of Works, given the monumental clean-up required after the Kaikoura earthquakes:-

>>Read about it here<<

It's a good idea, the old MOW should never have been sold off. The NZX-listed Opus now claims to be a direct descendant.

Back when the original MOW was established, there were very few of those newfangled bulldozers in the country. Now there are, and there is no shortage of earthmovers, civil engineers and contractors.

What is more needed, and Trotter does not directly address this, is a fully prepared disaster relief agency, which I propose we roll into the defence force. Such an organisation would have bridges, water purification and desalination units, temporary accommodation and the like, paramedics and hospital supplies, with the ability to get ashore in New Zealand or in the Pacific Islands.

Then with the disaster relief in place, proper planning can be undertaken and reconstruction carried out. With the events in Kaikoura, you just know that right now, not a lot is being done by the government, they're just as likely to permanently close State Highway 1 through Kaikoura.