Opportunities to grow the region

Spa and wellness centres and processed timber exports are among the long list of opportunities Grow Rotorua plans to explore to drive economic growth for the district.

Grow Rotorua has presented its 2013/15 Statement of Intent to the Rotorua District Council's Corporate and Customer Services Committee. The statement sets out the objectives, scope and performance targets for Grow Rotorua for the next two years.

Grow Rotorua was established in 2012 by the council and is tasked with implementing the Rotorua Sustainable Economic Growth Strategy. The desired outcomes of the strategy include more businesses, more jobs and more people.

Grow Rotorua chairman John Green said the focus for the next year was on projects where there were synergies across sectors.

"Our mandate is to focus on growing the four key sectors - geothermal, forestry, tourism and agribusiness. Over the last six months the board and staff have looked at ways we can maximise growth in these areas. The focus is on projects that will deliver results in multiple areas," he said.

In each project work will be undertaken next year to determine growth potential, analyse the barriers and investment opportunities and identify potential investors.

"Rotorua has an abundance of natural resources on our doorstep that puts us in a fantastic position to offer compelling investment opportunities to grow this region. The opportunities to work with the business sector and especially iwi are very exciting. It is not only about business but creating real high value jobs, retaining our young people here and creating a real sense of pride in Rotorua," he said.

Rotorua Mayor Kevin Winters said the approach Grow Rotorua was taking reinforced his optimism for the future.

"The highly experienced Grow Rotorua board and its small team of talented staff have identified 15 very promising project opportunities. Excellent work is underway in each of these areas to understand their full potential and to identify who possible investors are," he said.

But he had a warning.

"We will only be successful by working with local business leaders, business organisations, iwi organisations, tertiary and training institutions and the council. With the support of the whole community we have an excellent platform for driving growth and change in Rotorua."

Grow Rotorua's projects include:

Spa and wellness

Biking

Processed timber

Specialist living

Innovation park

Geothermal

Geothermal direct heat opportunities

Land use change options

Te Arawa investment opportunities

Centres of excellence

Start-up facilitation

Business retention and attraction

Investment capital