Construction work for Whanganui’s North Mole upgrade delayed until next year

Final artist impressions for the project were completed last year.

A change in personnel has delayed the upgrade to Whanganui’s North Mole, with construction pushed back to 2026.

The project began in 2023, led by community and hapū collective Ngā Ringaringa Waewae.

It ran workshops and focus groups to find out what the community wanted for the area, and final artist impressions were completed last year.

They included a carpark, toilets, showers, raised timber walkways, back dune native planting and a shared pathway.

Ngā Ringaringa Waewae spokesman Jamie Waugh, who helped secure $876,250 in funding for the project from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Tourism Infrastructure Fund (TIF), stood down from the project’s steering group this year.

A March report from Whanganui District Council project manager Diana Veitch said construction was due to be completed by this coming November 25.

However, she told the council’s projects and grants committee on July 29 that Waugh’s departure, plus a sporting accident to an expert adviser that forced them out of the role, had caused a delay.

“We do have dependencies on the planting season and when we can construct,” she said.

“It means we have to push out to next year.”

Te Pūwaha (Whanganui port revitalisation) project director Hayden Turoa had taken Waugh’s position, with Progress Castlecliff chairman James Barron also joining the group, Veitch said.

“We are very pleased to be partnering with Seletar Taputoro as our hapū expert adviser to the project,” she said.

“Timeframes are extended, but we are on track and we are making a lot of progress.

“We have high-level quantity surveying under way, which will be completed this week, and we are also working on draft tender documents for the detailed design.”

Taputoro is the business pathways activator at Whanganui’s Port Employment Precinct.

Veitch’s report to the committee said the total budget was $2.56 million.

Funding of $1.7m had been allocated so far through TIF and the Whanganui council, it said.

Councillor Peter Oskam asked if the delay would cause a rise in costs.

Veitch said that would not be known until quantity surveying was completed.

“When we looked at this originally, costs were quite high for contractors and things like that,” she said.

“They’ve flattened out a little bit, so it might be that it evens out.”

She said the TIF funding could only be used for a hapū-led project, with an initial requirement of project completion by October this year.

“TIF has agreed to extend the timeframes so we will be able to continue drawing that funding down.”

Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe said that once completed, the project would bookend the Mountains to Sea Ngā Ara Tūhono cycle trail.

“We don’t have that at the moment, so I’m looking forward to the progress.

“It’s of significant size and symbolism for Whanganui.”

He said he hoped lessons would be learned from the project so other community-led initiatives could be rolled out in the future.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is on local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.