Controversial plan for $100m Fiordland gondola underway

Plans have been confirmed for a controversial $100 million gondola link stretching 12.6km between the Milford Road in Fiordland and the Caples Valley.

The Milford Skytrail would be the world's longest gondola ride and reduce tourists' round trip from Queenstown to Milford from 12 hours to nine.

Skyline Enterprises chairman Barry Thomas yesterday confirmed the company, in partnership with Ngai Tahu, had agreed to prepare resource consent applications for the project.

That decision had been made this week and it was unlikely the applications would be heard before the end of the year.

The move was expected to attract controversy, he said.

The project was first mooted more than three years ago and was fiercely opposed by environmental groups and Te Anau businesspeople, who feared lost tourist traffic from the route to Milford.

But the gondola attracted cautious support from Tourism New Zealand, the regional marketing group Destination Queenstown, then-Otago MP Gavan Herlihy and then-Queenstown Lakes District mayor Warren Cooper.

According to plans, the Milford Skytrail would include a 35-minute gondola ride from the Caples Valley, across the Greenstone Valley and traversing the Fiordland National Park, adjacent to the Milford-Te Anau road.

The trip would include a ferry trip from Queenstown across Lake Wakatipu and shuttle rides at either end.

Consents would be needed from the Otago Regional Council, Environment Southland, the Southland and Queenstown Lakes district councils and from the Department of Conservation.

Opposition groups yesterday expressed surprise and disappointment at the announcement, with some vowing to fight the ambitious proposal.

Royal Forest and Bird Society conservation officer Sue Maturin said she had "a large database" of people to call on, who were seriously opposed to the skytrail.

Federated Mountain Clubs member David Barnes said the group was "very much opposed".

"It's going to do nothing for the environment and it's going to destroy the experience of visitors going into that area."

Te Anau businessman Geoffrey Thompson, who was a member of the lobby group "Stop the Gondola" three years ago, said the consequences for the Te Anau tourism industry would be significant.

"It's a pretty selfish attitude if Queenstown businesses want people to fly in and out of Queenstown and not to spend money anywhere else. It's not very neighbourly."

He said the gondola would probably reduce tourists' stay in Queenstown and was unlikely to solve or reduce congestion at Milford Sound.

Overcrowding at the Sound and the clogging of Milford Road by tourist traffic at peak hours of the day led to a DOC proposal in its draft Fiordland National Park management plan, to cap daily visitor numbers.

- NZPA