Work has started on a $12 million visitor centre at the Waitomo Caves, more than three years after the original centre burned down.
Grant Webster, chief executive of the attraction's owner, Tourism Holdings, said renegotiation of a lease with the Department of Conservation and Maori landowners as well as applying for approval from the Overseas Investment Office and building consents delayed the work.
The new centre was being built by Hawkins Construction and was expected to be completed by next March, The New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.
While the old visitor centre had a small cafe which seated 40, the new one will have both a 45-seat cafe and a 200-to-250-seat restaurant to cater for international visitors, including the Indian and Chinese markets.
It will also have an exhibition space, conference facility and theatre and extra space.
