The Government has approved a scaled-down version of the Franz Josef flood protection plan, but one which will still be a major shot in the arm for the stricken tourist town.
Work is to go ahead on upgrading the northern stopbanks of the Waiho (Waiau) River in a $12.3million project over 18 months, providing up to 30 full-time jobs.
The Government will commit $9.23million from the provincial growth fund, with co-funding of just over $3million from local ratepayers.
Announcing the decision in Hokitika yesterday morning, Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash said it would put fresh investment and confidence into the region.
The West Coast Regional Council pitched the Waiho scheme to the Government last year as a $24million Covid-19 recovery scheme, to expand and strengthen stopbanks on both sides of the river and build a new state highway bridge.
After being initially approved, it was then put on hold after the 2020 election while the incoming Government reviewed it.
Mr Nash said there needed to be a level of transparency and due diligence.
"We needed to make sure we do things right. Whatever options we arrive at [for the south bank], the northern stopbank needs to be done first."
The scaled-down version of the project represented phase one of the project, Westland Mayor Bruce Smith said.
"I’m absolutely delighted. We’ve been wanting this for 15 years now and it’s actually happening," Mr Smith said.
"We won’t be talking about Franz Josef being washed away, we’ll be talking instead about a progressive move to the north."
The unfunded part of the project, to upgrade the south bank walls and build a new bridge, would now go through a full evaluation process, which was "perfectly reasonable", Mr Smith said.
"They are trying to work out what’s best for the region and the South Island to make State Highway 6 as resilient as possible — whether that means more rock work or letting the river have its way, re-routing the road and buying out those landowners."
Mr Nash said jobs, businesses, and whole communities depended on resilient infrastructure links on the West Coast, and the latest research on the Alpine Fault highlighted the threats to Franz Josef township, and massive challenges to Coast infrastructure.
In 2019, the Waiho Bridge was swept away by a one in 100-year flood which caused widespread destruction around the town, closed State Highway 6 for two weeks and hurt the town’s economy.
The NZ Transport Agency had rebuilt the bridge in two and a-half weeks, but the damage was estimated to have led to an economic loss of up to $50million for the West Coast, Mr Nash said.
"The unrelenting forces of nature through earthquakes, floods, and extreme weather events associated with climate change mean this community needs more help than most to plan for its future."
Asked about the long-term viability of pinning the future of Fox Glacier and Franz Josef on retreating glaciers, Mr Smith said the glacier country was in the heart of the Tai Poutini Westland National Park and the World Heritage Area.
Mr Nash said flights to the glaciers and mountains, hunting, tramping and rainforest experience would always be drawcards, and tourism operators were resilient.
The focus was also on maintaining the highway as a vital north-south connection.
"State Highway 6 is the lifeline that links South Westland to larger towns, ports and rail hubs in the north, and is the path taken by tourists to world-famous destinations in the south such as the Haast wilderness area, Queenstown, Wanaka, Central Otago and Fiordland," Mr Nash said.
- By Lois Williams, local democracy reporter
