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QUEENSTOWN SAFER FROM FLOODING

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July, 2011

Massive earthworks to reduce the risk of a repeat of the devastating 1999 floods have started near Queenstown.
It is the latest stage of a multimillion-dollar joint Queenstown Lakes District Council and Otago Regional Council project to build a wastewater-to-land disposal scheme at the Shotover delta.
Last year, the Environment Court gave the go-ahead for a $42million Project Shotover wastewater and sewage field near the delta. The new sewerage scheme is designed to end discharge of treated wastewater into the Shotover River from an existing plant.
Construction of a $1m training line to divert the river and a $920,000 revetment line an 800-metre structure to provide flood protection runs until September.
Otago Regional Council director of environmental engineering and natural hazards Dr Gavin Palmer said 15,000 cubic metres of rock and gravel would be shifted from the Victoria Flats landfill to build the banks.
The structures would help the passage of floodwaters at the junction of the Shotover and Kawarau rivers and provide protection for the council's proposed wastewater disposal field, he said.
Council strategic project manager Martin O'Malley said the revetment line would reduce erosion of the river's western flank.
Studies show the flood hazard for Lake Wakatipu is increased when the Shotover meets the Kawarau at the western side of the delta. The five-stage works will eventually combine to divert any floodwaters down the eastern branch of the Kawarau River, easing drainage during a flood.
In November 1999, the lake overflowed, flooding businesses in Queenstown and causing about $60million of damage.
Earlier this year the council approved an amendment to the annual plan for extra funding of $676,000 after the cost of preliminary Project Shotover works was underestimated.
QUEENSTOWN COUNCIL MAKES WANAKA REAL ESTATE PURCHASE
The Queenstown Lakes District Council has made a strategic building and lease purchase at Wanaka Airport.
QLDC finance general manager and deputy chief executive Stewart Burns said the decision to purchase the Aspiring Air lease and buildings for $220,000 was made by Council in public excluded section of its meeting on 28 June.
Unfortunately the sensitivity of this commercial negotiation precluded any public conversation regarding the purchase. Given the budget was already available for terminal expenditure the decision places no additional burden on the ratepayer, Mr Burns said.
The site was a strategically important location - being in a prime position directly opposite the main sealed apron and the taxiway to the runway - that was tied up in a lease through to 2017.
This has been identified, together with the adjacent land, for a future Wanaka Airport Terminal development, Mr Burns said.
It was an objective of the Wanaka Airport to gain control of terminal facilities needed for scheduled air services.
The capital budget for the Wanaka airport includes $3.36m related to development of a passenger terminal over 10-years.
Much of this was provided on the assumption that we would need to build our own facility. The purchase of the Aspiring Air building means that we can defer most of this cost, Mr Burns said.