Businesses are at risk from the failure of infrastructure such as the 1998 power cut that left much of downtown Auckland in the dark. Now a gas pipe leak is causing chaos. File photo / NZ Herald
Who knew New Zealand businesses were so vulnerable?
One little leak in the Maui gas pipe and thousands of businesses are affected, hundreds of thousands of litres of milk has to be spilled and the impact on our economy is estimated at up to $75 million a day for as
long as the pipe remains ruptured.
I had a couple of business owners ring me on air this week and say they'll be ignoring the directive to curtail their use of gas, because they simply cannot afford to close.
One man told me he had more than 50 workers and their livelihoods depended on his business staying in operation. A week's shutdown would have devastating consequences on a business his size.
The owners of the pipeline, Maui Developments, say the buck stops with them rather than Vector, who are contracted to maintain the pipeline, and they point out this is the first time there's been disruption to the line in 30 years and is certainly the most extensive disruption since the pipe was commissioned in 1977.
