Giddy, gushing and not ratepayers’ problem
The Banks Avenue School students’ Adventure Ave initiative is a truly uplifting transitional red zone project. With various activities stirring into life on that vast green canvas, the most grandiose proposal takes another step forward, with the Eden Project being granted a two-year licence to occupy 46 hectares of red zone land in the Avonside loop.
Largely an exploratory procedure, the licence will enable Eden Project personnel to complete a comprehensive business case, including detailed design and financial work.
There’s no question that many attributes of the ‘‘Eden in Aotearoa’’ vision are captivating. The mega-scale ecotourism attraction would include multi-sensory installations celebrating the natural world. Pavilions would bring New Zealand landscapes to life, including raining lava rooms, dynamic tectonic playgrounds, enchanting subterranean forests, calving glaciers and ancient rainforest populated by moa and the Haast eagle.
Wrapped around the theme park-style confections would be a wetland forest delta and arterial waterways. Traditional Ma¯ ori forest lore and mahinga kai practices, along with the world’s largest woven eel trap, would braid nature with culture in this sprawling attraction.
The project’s capital costs alone have been estimated at between $80 million and $100m.
Just where that funding will be sourced from remains an open question. During a mayoral election interview last August, I asked Lianne Dalziel whether she’d rule out sinking ratepayer funding into the venture. The mayor took exception to the question’s pretext, protesting that the Eden Project team ‘‘were not seeking council funding as part of the development’’.
Fast-forward to the present and, on Friday, Dalziel reiterated to me that ‘‘there has been no request for council funding’’. She added, ‘‘it is still early days. However, I’m really excited about what is an extremely positive development with the lease. I personally think the Eden Project would be a game changer for our city and region’’.
No formal request for council funding may have been submitted yet, but you can bet your bottom dollar it will. In fact, as far back as 2017, Eden Project Trust chairman Martin Hadlee confirmed to The Press that it is ‘‘expecting a significant sum from public sources’’.
On the Eden Project New Zealand website, the frequently asked questions (FAQs) section lays bare that council funding is on the radar. One of the FAQs is ominously titled, ‘‘How will the development affect local rates?’’ And the answer – ‘‘This will depend on how the project is funded. Any investment will provide a social, cultural, environmental and economic return to the community in excess of any outlays.’’
Eden Project international chief executive David Harland confirmed to me over the weekend that, while it hasn’t made a specific request to the council yet, ‘‘we have always said that a combination of funding from public, private and philanthropic sources is key’’.
He added that ‘‘while it’s too early to state exact percentages, we are confident that all three will be part of the mix, including the Christchurch City Council’’.
For all its admirable attributes, I have a fundamental problem with vast sums of ratepayer money being tipped into commercial tourist ventures. We’ve only recently been to this rodeo – and got burnt.
Are we about to see an action-replay of the Christchurch Adventure Park (CAP) debacle, whereby public money was initially sunk into the project, under the guise of supposedly shoring up confidence for private investors to open their chequebooks?
You may recall that along with $2m of Crown funding, the Christchurch ratepayer ploughed $2m into CAP for a 14 per cent stake. But it was never publicly disclosed at the time that a cushy $5m loan guarantee had also been extended to the project, which came back to haunt the city last year, as private investors bailed. CAP was first spruiked as being projected to generate 100,000 guest nights annually and $150m in economic returns. Pure Narnia.
I note that the Eden Project’s pre-feasibility report also gushes with good-times giddiness, forecasting up to 600,000 annual visitors, generating $49m and creating 3000 jobs. If this really stacks up, the private sector will do the heavy lifting. Nga¯ i Tahu Tourism, an industry leader, would be an ideal partner.
It is not up to the ratepayer to bankroll or bail out commercial tourist ventures.
For all its admirable attributes, I have a problem with vast sums of ratepayer money being tipped into commercial tourist ventures.