The Central Lakes Trust (CLT) granted the majority of the money for cycleways maintenance, but a further $7500 was given to devise a tracks and trails strategic future.
COQTNT chairman Stephen Jeffery said the strategic future grant would be used to clarify the COQTNT’s direction as it transitions from constructing trails to also operating them.
When the COQTNT was set up, there were five projects planned to connect a 536km continuous network of trails from Queenstown to Dunedin, allowing visitors to get off a plane at Queenstown and cycle all the way to Dunedin, or vice versa.
Those five projects were the Lake Dunstan Trail, the Kawerau Gorge Trail, the Roxburgh Gorge Trail, the Cromwell to Wanaka Trail and a bridge or clip-on bridge at Alexandra to allow connections with the rail trail.
"The completed trail will cover Queenstown to Dunedin, Wanaka to Dunedin, and everything in between," Mr Jeffery said.
The Lake Dunstan Trail had already attracted more than 80,000 users in its first year and was awarded great ride status by Nga Haerenga New Zealand Cycle Trails on its one-year anniversary in May.
"The amount of people on that trail is quite staggering and, as we complete the missing links, I think the numbers will grow and Central Otago will become a hub for cyclists, even at world level," Mr Jeffery said.
"Otago as a whole will be known globally as a region to come cycling."
Eventually the links would bring together the Queenstown, Clutha Gold, Roxburgh Gorge, Lake Dunstan and Otago Central Rail trails.
Work on the link from Lawrence to Waihola was well under way, with plans for it to be finished next year.
Resource consent applications to link Cromwell to Queenstown and Wanaka, and to connect the two sections of the Roxburgh Gorge Trail, were also already submitted, Jeffery said.
But it has not all been straight forward - an objection on the Bannockburn to Gibbston Valley connection of the Kawerau Gorge trail meant it could head to the Environment Court.
An extra 12.5km of trail was planned for the Roxburgh Gorge Trail that did not previously have easements in place, but a lizard management plan needed approval from the Department of Conservation (Doc) first.
Similar lizard management plans awaited Doc approval for the Cromwell to Wanaka Trail.
"We are well through that mediation process and it is looking positive," Mr Jeffery said.
He hoped further work on the Cromwell to Wanaka link could take place early next year, but it was simply a matter of waiting for approvals.
"All of these things take time."
