The head of the Cook Islands Investment Corporation says construction failures with public buildings stem from a lack of clear specifications for tropical conditions.
Photo: AFP
The Cook Islands Justice building, the Police Headquarters and the Telecom Sports Arena all need repairs for leaks and rust at a total cost of more than 600,000 US dollars.
Tamarii Tutangata says the Chinese building company involved in their construction should not take all the blame for the failures as the Cook Islands government should have been more clear in its needs and project supervision.
"We did not put in specifications about the type of materials that are required for tropical conditions. And what has emerged is that some of the materials that were used, the type of steel that was used for instance, starts to rust fairly early over here. So we've had to do something about replacing those."
Tamarii Tutangata says he hopes the repairs will start early next year.
