Mr Pollock’s email was sent to 12 affected parties, but the changes are expected to have a far wider impact.
McCannics construction company owner Robbie McCann said the withdrawal of work would have a ripple effect for many businesses throughout the region, including his.
Although McCannics did not contract directly to the council, a lot of his work came from businesses that did, and he believed thousands of people could be affected.
“It’s indirect for me but it has a flow- on effect, and that’s probably the biggest thing,” McCann said.
“We’re not actually getting stuff done fast enough anyway.”
A spokesperson for Currie Construction said his company pulled out its workers the Monday following the announcement, but was remaining philosophical.
“It’s the nature of it. (You’ve) got to be prepared for this stuff.”
Mr Pollock’s email to affected contractors labelled the situation as “frustrating” because of the amount of work that lay in front of them.
“This is not a position that Downer or GDC (Gisborne District Council) wish to be, but I do request that we support them as they continue their task of negotiating funding to continue the great work we are all doing,” Mr Pollock wrote.
Downer had no further knowledge of when things would change, he added.
Council acting director of lifelines Dave Hadfield told Local Democracy Reporting the slowdown of cyclone-related work should not come as a surprise.
The council’s contractors had completed $60 million of emergency repairs over the past six months and all ongoing work would be tendered to the open market.
“This is how council works. The transition phase is always tough however this has been communicated at contract meetings for some time now.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have an endless bucket of money . . . At this time, I can’t provide a timeframe as to when the final recovery funding will be announced.”
Mr Hadfield said bridge repairs would continue, and contractors would focus on urgent maintenance work such as pothole repairs and heavy metalling.
