Latest earthquake could slow Christchurch rebuild - English
Finance Minister Bill English says yesterday's 5.2 earthquake in Christchurch could delay the rebuild of the city.
Finance Minister Bill English says yesterday’s 5.2 earthquake in Christchurch could delay the rebuild of the city.
Asked today on TV3’s “The Nation”, if the earthquake could cause another setback to the rebuild, Mr English said: “It's possible.”
“I mean there would be not a lot of physical damage from it, but a critical issue in Christchurch has been the confidence of the insurance companies,” he said.
“We've been working with them, or Gerry Brownlee has to get some collective solutions to quite complex insurance problems, and part of the challenge of getting those solutions has been insurance companies are preferring to be insuring people again against a backdrop of no quakes, so that they're not taking obvious risks.
“I think that’s yet to be seen.”
Mr English said the latest earthquake was a reminder that it wasn’t just a matter of policy or process to get the rebuild going.
“There is the on-going concern that there can be further earthquakes, and each one of them has some effect on confidence.”
He said the Government was trying to work with the insurance companies.
“From the government's point of view we just want to push on as far as we can, because there are so many people there who want to get their lives back together.”
NBR staff
Sat, 26 May 2012
Sat, 26 May 2012
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Latest earthquake could slow Christchurch rebuild - English
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