Subsidy still there for Kerikeri sewerage upgrade

Last year, the Far North District Council mounted an innovative campaign, called 'Let's Talk Crap' Photo / Peter de Graaf

Kerikeri may still be able to tap into a multi-million-dollar subsidy to upgrade its inadequate sewerage system, despite fears the council had missed a government deadline.

The size of the subsidy, however, will be reduced if the council scales back the scheme to make it affordable.

Last year, the Far North District Council mounted an innovative campaign, called Let's Talk Crap, to raise awareness of the town's sewage woes and encourage people to make submissions on the council's plans for an upgrade.

According to the latest Census, Kerikeri is now the Far North's most populous town, but its sewerage scheme has not kept up. Whole suburbs, such as Riverside, and parts of the CBD still rely on septic tanks. In heavy rain, overflow ends up in the Kerikeri Inlet.

Last year's consultation gave the council a green light to go ahead after 60 per cent of residents in key areas backed the upgrade. At the time, it was expected to be one of the biggest infrastructure projects the council had undertaken.

However, the plan relied on a $7.3 million Ministry of Health subsidy that was to have expired if substantial progress had not been made by September 30 last year. Without the subsidy, the project would be unaffordable.

Despite the apparent missed deadline, the ministry told the Advocate the subsidy was still available. However, environmental manager Sally Gilbert said the $7.3 million figure was based on a larger and more expensive scheme as proposed earlier.

The actual subsidy paid out would be known only when the council had finalised the size and design of its revised scheme and obtained detailed cost estimates.

Council infrastructure committee chairman John Vujcich said the new scheme originally proposed for Kerikeri, before the downturn, would have cost between $30 million and $40 million. With the slowdown in the economy and the town's growth, it would have led to unaffordable pan charges. "It was a Mangawhai in the making. Since then we've become a lot more aware of doing the job properly."

Mangawhai's sewerage scheme, planned while the town's population was booming, caused an $80 million blowout in Kaipara District Council debt. The government sacked the council and installed commissioners to run Kaipara's affairs.