Former Westland mayor and Haast-Hollyford Highway Ltd director Durham Havill said applications would be lodged with four councils - the Westland and Southland district councils, the West Coast Regional Council and Environment Southland.
The regional councils were involved because the construction project would involve waterways and earthworks, he said.
The decision followed a ''positive'' meeting on Thursday with a resource consent consultant, Mr Havill said.
The next few months would be spent writing the applications and finding the money needed for the consent process, which he said could be $3 million to $5 million.
Haast-Hollyford Highway Ltd has the backing of Chinese investors JCP Partners, who are finance partners with Blakely Construction.
JCP Partners has signed a memorandum of understanding allowing $250 million to design, build, finance and maintain a toll road for a period of 30 years from the opening date.
Mr Havill said JCP Partners might contribute to the consent process and he was also exploring other options, including applying to Development West Coast for funds.
Development West Coast was set up to administer most of the $120 million in government compensation given to West Coast local authorities in 2000 when the logging of native timber on the coast ceased.
''I would like to think they would give us a hand with this one. The road will be good for the coast. It will create jobs while it is being built and should double tourism on the coast when it is completed.''
Plans for the roads have been stymied by a legal issue over who owns a stretch of unformed road in the middle of the proposed route.
The unformed road was removed from maps and later reinstated, but last year Land Information NZ added the words ''legality not determined'' to maps.
A decision on Christmas Eve had sorted that, Mr Havill said.
The Westland District Council took just 10 minutes to decide it legally owned the portion of unformed road.
The decision meant there was no longer a legal dispute and nothing to stop Haast-Hollyford Highway Ltd proceeding with its plans, he said.
''I believe all the barriers have been cleared and the next step is to get the resource consent under way. It also means we can talk to both [district] councils in a positive way.''
Southland district councillors will be updated at a meeting on March 18.
Southland Mayor Gary Tong said yesterday Mr Havill would speak during the public forum, and he had also invited him to meet privately if there were issues Mr Havill thought should remain confidential.
Mr Tong, who was elected in October, 2013, said he was looking forward to hearing an update on the project.
''Nothing at all has been nailed down yet. I feel we as a council are no further ahead than we were when [my predecessor] Frana Cardno was mayor.''
A resource consent application would be ''the first stake in the ground'', he said.
Mr Havill said there was nothing he needed to keep private about the proposal, where the funding was coming from, or the resource consent plans.
''Everybody should be able to know what is going on.''
Haast-Hollyford highway
• Long-standing proposal to link Haast to Milford Sound and Te Anau via the Hollyford Valley. Passes through Fiordland National Park and part of the Te Wahipounamu South West New Zealand World Heritage area.
• Haast about 180km from Milford Sound, cutting more than 350km from current journey.
• Cost estimate $250 million, although New Zealand transport analysts estimate construction could cost as much as $1 billion.
• Operated as toll road.
• Backing of Chinese investors.
