As someone who worked in government, I'm going to take the high road here and devil's advocate here:
fishinwrench - my best guess is the meeting is legally required and must be held if it is or not. Much like voting, no future complaining if you don't go to the meeting.
Gavin - Who knows, but I bet they do no maintenance is cheaper. However, maintenance cost money and money is controlled by the your government representatives. I bet they know, but just don't care. Also... sometime old infrastructure replacement is cheaper if the old infrastructure doesn't meet current engineering or safety standards. Plus... didn't this get damaged by a flood (100% could be wrong here)?