Things are already moving on the new Alps 2 Ocean cycleway, a 312km trail from Mt Cook to Oamaru which is part of the Government's New Zealand Cycleway project.
Work has started on an 8km section of the trail from the Lake Ohau weir to the Ohau Village, expected to cost about $120,000, with completion aimed at May.
Tenders are being called for another 7km section of the trail along the shore of Lake Pukaki from Haymans Rd to the Pukaki Information Centre.
Planning is under way for the section from Ohai Village to Quailburn, with work planned to start in the spring.
Mackenzie Tourism Development Trust general manager Philip Brownie, who is leading the project, said yesterday that at same time the physical work was being carried out, developments were taking place on the management side.
The two district councils - Mackenzie and Waitaki - through whose area the trail would pass would receive a proposal within the next two weeks on a company structure to promote, market and manage the trail.
At the same time, another group was working on branding, logos and intellectual property rights, which included developing a booking website.
Cyclists can now bike from Mt Cook to Oamaru using roads and some existing off-road trails, but as sections are completed they will move off roads.
The trail, expected to cost about $3.25 million to build, descends 718m from New Zealand's highest mountain to the sea at Oamaru through the Mackenzie and Waitaki districts.
In July it was granted $2.75 million in funding by the Government as part of the national cycle trail project, leaving the project committee to find an additional $500,000.
The trail has the potential to become one of the "great rides" in New Zealand and it has been projected it could eventually attract more than 40,000 visitors a year.
Based on what cyclists using the Otago Central Rail Trail spend each day on average, that could inject almost $5 million a year into local economies.
Already, communities along the route are examining how they can tap into that potential and businesses are already being established.
The route goes from Mt Cook to Twizel, then to Ohau Lodge, Omarama, Otematata and follows the north side of Lake Aviemore to Kurow and Duntroon.
From Duntroon, it goes over to the Waiareka Valley, along part of the old Ngapara railway line - including through two tunnels - then through Weston, before finishing at Oamaru Harbour's blue penguin colony.
