There had been speculation that the Government wsas planning to take over responsibility for the reconstruction of central Christchurch after the devasting Canterbury earthquakes.
Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee released details of the new unit in Christchurch this morning.
To be called the Christchurch Central Development Unit, it will be an extension of the Government's Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) and will be led by Cera demolitions boss Warwick Isaacs.
It will work in partnership with the city council, with council staff working alongside Cera staff in the unit. The unit will have 100 days to put together a blueprint for the the rebuild.
Mr Brownlee said the blueprint would identify the location of anchor projects such as public buildings and strategic city blocks, would identify how to streamline consent processes and look at what land amalgamation was required to support these anchor projects and other developments.
"The announcement today marks the beginning of a new stage in the recovery of Christchurch after the February 2011 earthquake,'' he said.
"We know that the full recovery of Christchurch will take many years, but international experience suggests we have a three year window of opportunity to get the rebuild and recovery framework underway, and to establish momentum and confidence.''
The city council's draft plan for central Christchurch has proposed a $2 billion smaller, greener, low-rise city centre.
Mr Brownlee said volume one of the council's Central City Plan - featuring the vision for the city centre - would be accepted in the main, but transport aspects would be "put to one side for the time being''.
Today's announcement was not a commitment to financing all projects in the plan, Mr Brownlee said.
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker called the unit a "true partnership''.
It was the best way of handling the important task of rebuilding the central city, Mr Parker said.
Property developer and head of the City Owners Rebuild Entity Group, Ernest Duval, said it was a positive step forward.
"For this unit, our role will be to fast-track consents and resource consents and really to adopt a can-do attitude towards development.''
Mr Duval said he understood the unit would not be taking any powers away from the Christchurch City Council but they would work in a collaborative fashion.
