80 new jobs created in Tauranga

Tauranga business Kiwi Bus Builders has secured a contract to assemble 120 buses - generating at least 50 new jobs and injecting an extra $2 million in wages into the Bay economy.
The buses will be imported from Scotland as kitsets and assembled at Kiwi Bus Builders' new factory in the Tauriko Business Estate.
The 120 new buses are being made and assembled for Infratil-owned New Zealand Bus, which operates passenger services in Auckland and Wellington.
Managing director Richard Drummond said the 50 new positions created, mostly for semiskilled coach assemblers, was a conservative figure.
"It will actually probably be more than that," he told the Bay of Plenty Times.
The jobs, which will include technicians, quality controllers, supervisors and painters, will be advertised from next week.
The positive news comes as other companies create jobs in Tauranga.
New Zealand Dairy Processing has converted the former Maleme St petfood plant into a modern export milk-processing facility and it is understood about 30 jobs will be created.
This week this paper revealed that Bidvest NZ, the country's leading supplier to the food service and hospitality sector, is setting up in Tauranga and will create 60 jobs.
Kiwi Bus Builders was among 38 companies worldwide vying for the 120-bus contract.
Mr Drummond said Kiwi Bus Builders, which was entering its 18th year in Tauranga, at present built up to 100 buses annually, depending on the level of luxury involved.
He said this construction would continue alongside the assembly contract.
Mr Drummond described the new contract as "exciting for Tauranga". Once the new factory opened at Tauriko, most of the 30 staff working in the Christchurch branch would return or relocate to Tauranga.
He said about seven or eight would remain to carry out servicing and repair work.
Mr Drummond said the decision to import buses from British company Dennis Alexander - rather than build them from scratch here - was influenced by the shortage of skilled labour in New Zealand.
"We struggle getting skilled labour, as it is, in our standard construction," he said. "There's nobody sitting on the shelves waiting."
He hoped to dip into the kiwifruit worker labour pool to recruit staff, who would then require training.
The contracts will be for at least a year's work.
Kiwi Bus Builders already employs 110 staff, and Mr Drummond said the new assembly contract would increase the total wage bill to about $8 million.