A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
It’s no surprise that roading makes up the lion’s share of the $1.168 billion requested from the Government in the Cyclone Recovery Plan released this week by Gisborne District Council — $820 million, or 70 percent of the total.
The funding request (yes, request — not an allocation as we
incorrectly reported last Saturday based on a misleading council media release) uses upper estimates for roading investment, probably wisely . . . the range for the rebuilding of local roads is $305m-$420m of “immediate funding required to be safe, protected and connected”, and $200m-$400m “required for resilience”.
This is just for the local roads that GDC is responsible for; investment required for our state highways is listed as “unknown” — something for Waka Kotahi to work out, hopefully based on plenty of engagement with local communities, but it would be a fair assumption that fixing and building resilience into SH35 and SH2 would cost around a further $1bn.
Other big expenditure items in the recovery plan are $73m to build resilience into the city’s main water supply system; $39.8m to restore damaged stopbanks and accelerate flood protection projects (eg the Waipaoa western side upgrade); $49.4m to instal processing facilities for woody debris; and $25.2m for the core response such as silt removal, recovery and risk assessments.
It also requests $65m for the continuation of 20 Jobs for Nature projects, focused on recovery and climate resilience, for the next three-to-five years. The district already received $65m for these projects, for employment and biodiversity outcomes, as part of Covid-19 response funding over three years.
Keep up to date with the day's biggest stories
Sign up to our daily curated newsletter for the day's top stories straight to your inbox.
Pay just
per week ongoing
Pay just
per year ongoing
30
