Council drainage spokesman Graeme Dohnt said a meeting a year ago of the previous council had agreed to bring the $1 million forward and get the job done this year.
But the new council's priority was people's homes and the timetable for the pumping station would now be decided as part of the review of the 10-year plan later this year.
Frances Roberts, of Lollipop's Playland and Cafe, faces a huge effort before she can resume trading, with costs expected to total tens of thousands of dollars. Everything contaminated by floodwaters must go.
"The entire building has to be emptied," Mrs Roberts said.
She heard the news as she was flying home from the UK and arrived back to a big mess yesterday.
The near-miss six weeks ago saw customers evacuated by bus when, as usual in floods, Roxanne Place was impassable.
The flooding coincided with the council entering the final phase of letting a contract for the first phase of the $1.75 million flood relief works, the $750,000 contract to raise the level of Poike Rd for 250m to the intersection with Roxanne Place, and doubling the size of the stormwater pipe along Poike Rd.
Council drainage spokesman Graeme Dohnt said this would give all-weather access to the subdivision. Tenders were sitting in a box and would not be opened until delays associated with consenting conditions had been sorted out.
Guy Metz of Dream Doors Amazing Kitchen Facelifts said it was not acceptable to have 18cm of muddy water pouring through his premises. He partly blamed the Waimapu River not draining properly because it was silting up, particularly at the point where a big slip dropped into the river from Yatton Park.
"They need to clear the river, it is obstructed."
Mr Metz questioned why the council allowed the subdivision to be developed on the low-lying area. "Someone did not do their homework."
Another flood victim, Storage King Tauranga, said it was the worst it had experienced. Staff began sandbagging but the water rose too quickly.
"We don't know the extent of the damage yet," NZ operations manager Lorraine Jones said. The main priority yesterday was contacting customers.
She said it was a delicate situation because if customers had arrived in large numbers late in the afternoon to get their property out, they risked being trapped by floodwaters.
Some customers were in difficult situations, whether from their belongings having sentimental or monetary value.
"We are in damage-control mode for customers."
