Big spend-up for Dunedin
MPs are joined by workers at the announcement of the re-establishment of KiwiRail’s Hillside workshop in Dunedin. Inset: A vision of the proposed waterfront.
He came, he saw and Shane Jones certainly spent. The regional economic development minister confirmed $19.9 million from the Provincial Growth Fund would go towards Dunedin’s waterfront redevelopment project. The reestablishment of Hillside railway workshop was also part of a $60m spend up.
The 7-hectare complex was built in South Dunedin in 1875, and employed about 1200 people at its peak. Most of its work was for KiwiRail before it closed in
2012 with the loss of 90 jobs. Jones was joined by David Parker, trade and export minister, in announcing almost
$20m from the Provincial
Growth Fund (PGF) to help reestablish the two main workshops and overhaul the mechanical plant.
It was one of several packages – including $5.8m to manufacturing agriculture technology business company Scott Technology, and $10m for the establishment of the Centre of Digital Excellence.
Dunedin was identified as an area that ‘‘had suffered through central government neglect’’.
The waterfront project was billed as a ‘‘long-term transformational plan’’ for the historic Steamer Basin area.
Plans for the waterfront include a ferry terminal to accommodate cruise ship tenders and water taxis, an open air public swimming pool, a marine science and environmental centre (potentially a public aquarium), an eco-tourism centre, restaurants, offices, a five-star hotel, and cultural centre or conference centre referencing the Otago cockle.
The latest funding announcement would go towards constructing the wharf infrastructure, while complementing the Dunedin City Council’s plan to develop a new $20m bridge to the area.
Councillor David BensonPope, a former Labour minister, said the waterfront had become ‘‘sadly derelict in places’’, with the funding pivotal to the project’s success. He noted the major support from Port Otago, the Otago Regional Council, Ngai Tahu and the University of Otago, and was confident once work began ‘‘we will attract other outside investment’’.