Costs sunk into failed Whakatāne harbour project as yet unknown
Neither the Whakatāne District Council, the Government, nor the board of Te Rāhui Herenga Waka are able to put a figure on how much money has been lost to a failed Whakatāne boat harbour project.
Both the council and the ministry told Local Democracy Reporting that Te Rāhui Herenga Waka Whakatāne Board was now developing a wind-down plan, and part of that process would identify what had been spent to date and what might be available for redistribution to partners.
When asked how long this was expected to take, Local Democracy Reporting was told the Te Rahui general partner was seeking advice on the required steps before sharing the work programme with the limited partners.
The boat harbour project was canned earlier this month due to rising costs caused by contaminated soils and a diminishing pay off for the community and local economy.
In December last year, project manager Phil Wardale said $3.7 million had been spent so far on items such as preliminary works, soil testing security, lighting and machinery.
In 2021 the council; the Crown, through Kānoa - Regional Economic Development and Investment Unit; Te Rāhui Lands Trust and Ngāti Awa Group Holdings formed a limited partnership to oversee the building on the harbour, which had been awarded fast-track consent through the Covid-19 Recovery Act 2020.
The Government committed a total of $19.6 million to the project.
A Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment spokesperson said, from that, a grant of $1 million had been provided to Te Rāhui Lands Trust and a total of $9.8 million had been invested into the limited partnership to date.
Whakatāne District Council committed $9.8 million to the project in its 2021-2031 Long-term Plan. Chief executive Steven Perdia said this was to come from a loan against the Harbour Endowment Fund.
"Council has introduced $5.7m to the project to date."
He said, once the costs to council from the project were known, that figure would be made public.
Delays and cost escalations largely due to soil contamination on the former industrial dump site led to a rescoping report being presented to the Whakatāne council earlier this year, as none of the partners were prepared to put further funds into the project.
On May 7, the partners announced that the boat harbour project would not proceed.
Limited partnership chairman John Rae said among the reasons for not proceeding with the project was significant reduction in size of the land remediation component.
He also named "substantial changes to the broader project scope — such as the removal or reduction of the marine training facility, the reduced number of berths, the size of the hardstand and removal of the dedicated offloading wharf — and the diminished economic and community benefits that underpinned the original business case", as reasons for discontinuing.
Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
7 hours ago
- Scoop
The House: Parliamentary Week Achieves Two Out Of Three Goals
Sanctions against Te Pti Mori MPs were historic, but they weren't the only thing that happened in the house. , Editor: The House While Parliament's week was dominated by its final event – Thursday's debate on the report from the Privileges Committee into a haka performed in the chamber – the rest of the week focussed on other business that, while more mundane, was still worthy of note. The Government appeared to have three objectives for this week in the house. Crucial to the administration's continuance, the first goal was to successfully complete the initial debate on the budget. The long initial budget debate could no longer dribble on over weeks, so the house spent six hours of the week completing the second reading debate, which is the first debate a budget gets. The reading was accomplished and so the Government continues. This may sound silly, but a Government cannot survive, if the house votes against its budget. Agreeing to vote for budget and taxation bills are the 'supply' portion of the 'confidence and supply' agreement that is the foundation of any coalition agreement. The budget focus now turns to select committees and what is called 'Scrutiny Week', when ministers appear before various subject committees to defend their budget plans. Scrutiny Week begins on 16 June. Slow seconds A second objective was possibly not in earlier plans for this week – to finally polish off the bills originally slated for completion two weeks ago during budget week urgency. Then, the Leader of the House had asked the house to accord urgency for 12 bills the Government hoped to progress through 30 stages of parliamentary debate. The plan was ambitious and it did not succeed. Despite day-long sittings until midnight Saturday (when urgency must end), only two bills were completed, others were untouched, and 13 stages were unfinished or unstarted. This week's plan for the house had MPs returning to the well for more of the same. Just like last time, progress was at a snail's pace. After quite a few hours, the Government had slugged its way through just a few more stages. The plan was slowed to a crawl by bills' committee stages (formally known as the Committee of the Whole House). Committee stages are a crucial way for MPs to publicly interrogate the minister in charge of a bill. With patience, they can tease out a lot about both a government's development of legislation and its intended real-world impacts. Because the committee stage has no set duration, it is also a way for the opposition to make the Government really work for progress. The Government did achieve progress on the bills left incomplete from budget week, but again, it was probably not what was hoped for. They will need to come back yet again in three weeks to have a third crack. The Opposition is showing itself to be quite effective at the filibuster. The Government's third objective was to have the debate on the recent Privileges Committee Report on three Te Pāti Māori MPs done by the week's end. As Leader of the House Chris Bishop said in re-initiating the debate: 'My encouragement would be for everybody to finish this debate today. 'Have a robust debate, but let's end this issue once and for all, and deal with the issue and get back to the major issues facing this country.' That wish was fulfilled with apparent agreement from across the house. As 6pm neared, the MP who eventually moved that a vote be taken was Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi. The frankly fascinating debate on the report will be reported separately.
Scoop
10 hours ago
- Scoop
The House: Parliamentary Week Achieves Two Out Of Three Goals
, Editor: The House While Parliament's week was dominated by its final event - Thursday's debate on the report from the Privileges Committee into a haka performed in the chamber - the rest of the week focussed on other business that, while more mundane, was still worthy of note. The Government appeared to have three objectives for this week in the house. Crucial to the administration's continuance, the first goal was to successfully complete the initial debate on the budget. The long initial budget debate could no longer dribble on over weeks, so the house spent six hours of the week completing the second reading debate, which is the first debate a budget gets. The reading was accomplished and so the Government continues. This may sound silly, but a Government cannot survive, if the house votes against its budget. Agreeing to vote for budget and taxation bills are the 'supply' portion of the 'confidence and supply' agreement that is the foundation of any coalition agreement. The budget focus now turns to select committees and what is called 'Scrutiny Week', when ministers appear before various subject committees to defend their budget plans. Scrutiny Week begins on 16 June. Slow seconds A second objective was possibly not in earlier plans for this week - to finally polish off the bills originally slated for completion two weeks ago during budget week urgency. Then, the Leader of the House had asked the house to accord urgency for 12 bills the Government hoped to progress through 30 stages of parliamentary debate. The plan was ambitious and it did not succeed. Despite day-long sittings until midnight Saturday (when urgency must end), only two bills were completed, others were untouched, and 13 stages were unfinished or unstarted. This week's plan for the house had MPs returning to the well for more of the same. Just like last time, progress was at a snail's pace. After quite a few hours, the Government had slugged its way through just a few more stages. The plan was slowed to a crawl by bills' committee stages (formally known as the Committee of the Whole House). Committee stages are a crucial way for MPs to publicly interrogate the minister in charge of a bill. With patience, they can tease out a lot about both a government's development of legislation and its intended real-world impacts. Because the committee stage has no set duration, it is also a way for the opposition to make the Government really work for progress. The Government did achieve progress on the bills left incomplete from budget week, but again, it was probably not what was hoped for. They will need to come back yet again in three weeks to have a third crack. The Opposition is showing itself to be quite effective at the filibuster. The Government's third objective was to have the debate on the recent Privileges Committee Report on three Te Pāti Māori MPs done by the week's end. As Leader of the House Chris Bishop said in re-initiating the debate: "My encouragement would be for everybody to finish this debate today. "Have a robust debate, but let's end this issue once and for all, and deal with the issue and get back to the major issues facing this country." That wish was fulfilled with apparent agreement from across the house. As 6pm neared, the MP who eventually moved that a vote be taken was Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi. The frankly fascinating debate on the report will be reported separately. - RNZ's The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament's Office of the Clerk. Enjoy our articles or podcast at RNZ.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Capable NZ set to lose 20 jobs
Otago Polytechnic staff are feeling "like stunned mullets" after the institution cut 20 jobs from a ground-breaking department. Staff were informed of the decision on Thursday to cut the Capable NZ department from about 30FTEs to nine FTES and an additional head of college role, after a proposal was put forward in March. Despite staff fighting for more jobs to be kept, management at Otago Polytechnic agreed on a rate of job cuts very similar to the March proposal. A staff member, who did not wish to be named, said people were "like stunned mullets" when they heard the news. "We expected a bit of pain, but nothing of this level. "The staff will try to teach the material to a gold-standard level, but it becomes increasingly difficult with far less staff support." Capable NZ allows students to apply and start any time and complete the required work from anywhere in New Zealand. Qualifications earned through Capable NZ have the same value as those earned through normal Otago Polytechnic programmes, or other tertiary institutions. Capable NZ had at its height more than 500 students. This had dropped to about 270 last year. The polytechnic blamed the ongoing effects of Covid-19 and the fact it was a politically fraught environment. Otago Polytechnic deputy executive director Mark Cartwright said "despite the change in structure, it's important to emphasise there will be no cuts to existing programmes". "We believe Capable NZ provides an important and meaningful service to our community and are committed to its continued delivery. "The purpose of the change is to ensure we are operating in a financially sustainable way. "We will move the Capable NZ department and all of its programmes to sit under Te Maru Pumanawa (TMP), our College of Creative Practice and Enterprise." Former Otago Polytechnic chief executive Phil Ker said this week's announcement of cutbacks to Capable NZ, "represents a real vote of no confidence" in the department. He said many of the problems could be traced back to the merging of the country's 16 Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) into the mega-polytechnic Te Pukenga. "At the advent of Te Pukenga, Capable NZ was the largest school at Otago Polytechnic, with nationwide coverage and offering highly innovative and unique programmes. That was why it had so many staff. "So, clearly it's fallen on hard times. What I am aware of is that there was considerable neglect on the marketing and promotion front across many aspects of Te Pukenga. "I've got no doubts that Capable NZ would have suffered from that." Mr Ker said despite these barriers, he was confident Capable NZ could rise again if managed properly. "The Capable NZ approach, which is at the undergraduate level, is still highly innovative in a global context, let alone in a New Zealand context. "It offers access to degree-level qualifications for people in work. That is as cost-effective as you can get. "So it seems to me that any downturn could easily be counteracted by a well-planned and well-focused marketing and recruitment programme." Staff told the Otago Daily Times they were worried about the bulk of the programme's institutional memory disappearing. Tertiary Education Union assistant secretary Daniel Benson-Guiu said Capable NZ was unique to Otago Polytechnic in that it was neither an "on campus" course or a "work-based learning" course. "People flocked to it outside of the polytechnic's catchment area," Mr Benson-Guiu said. "A programme like this allows the polytechnic to have a more national focus, which is what's needed to ensure student numbers remain good." Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds is due to make an announcement next month about which polytechnics will become autonomous and which ones remain in a "federation" model. Otago Polytechnic has frequently expressed a desire to become autonomous again. Mr Cartwright said Otago Polytechnic needed to "ensure the financial viability of our organisation to be able to stand alone". Asked about Mr Ker's comments about the job cuts being a "vote of no confidence" in Capable NZ, Mr Cartwright said "this difficult decision is in no way a reflection of the amazing work the team does, or the unique products they offer". "It is the result of steadily declining enrolments. The changes will ensure we are able to continue to provide these products and services in a financially viable way."
