D-Day for action on Hartner

By ANNE GIBSON

The Government is expected to decide today whether it will step in to appoint a statutory manager for the Hartner collapse.

Today is also developer David Henderson's deadline to terminate the Hartner Construction contract on the $50 million Hilton Hotel at Princes Wharf.

Liquidator Bernie Montgomerie said the Government should step in to stop further damage being done in the industry.

He said more subcontractors would be left out of pocket if the Hilton contract was cancelled.

Hartner Construction collapsed on February 1 with $28.2 million in liabilities - second only to the collapse of Angus Construction in 1990 for $29.5 million.

Mr Montgomerie is the liquidator of Alotech Walls & Ceilings, which succeeded in gaining recognition as a creditor in the High Court at Auckland last week.

It now had the right to apply to have Hartner Construction liquidated - a move which the Hartner receiver John Waller said was inevitable.

But Mr Waller said there was no money to pay a liquidator and sub-contractors were reluctant to foot the bill to get some money back.

Mr Montgomerie said a statutory manager would have the power to put a moratorium on all contracts, so that developers could not cancel them. Another advantage of a statutory manager would be a wider scope of investigation.

So far, Commerce Minister Paul Swain has declined to intervene.