Cost of waterfront project a big secret

It is billed as ‘‘iconic and transformational’’, but Dunedin City Council officials are tightlipped over the potential cost of Dunedin’s waterfront makeover.

Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones last month committed $820,000 from the Provincial Growth Fund to complete a business case of the city’s waterfront development.

‘‘You can’t deny that in its full form this is going to be iconic and transformational,’’ Jones, who did not rule out further Government funding for the project, said at the time.

A heavily-redacted version of the waterfront feasibility application was released to Stuff under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.

More than a third of the 61-page ‘‘Dunedin Waterfront Vision’’ application was blacked out, with the council citing commercial sensitivity.

That secrecy was because the ‘‘application for feasibility funding will form the basis of the council’s bid for capital funding’’. But the documents reveal a council spend of $90,000 on modelling, of $20,000 on video animations, of $15,000 on exhibition space, and of $14,000 on planning due diligence.

A further $150,000 was for planning advice and legal fees, with $230,000 earmarked for a business case for a $20 million bridge linking the waterfront area for cyclists and pedestrians.

The documents referenced some of the ambitious plans for the area.

They included 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 fivestar hotel, and cultural centre or conference centre referencing the Otago cockle.

Jones told supporters he and his colleagues wanted to see ‘‘action and pace’’ on the plans.

The minister signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the project’s partners, including the city council, Otago Regional Council, Port Otago, University of Otago, Nga¯i Tahu, architect Damien van Brandenburg and Ian Taylor of Animation Research Ltd.

That memorandum helped mitigate the ‘‘risk that some of the land covered by the vision is sold to someone who developed it for a purpose contrary to the vision’’, the documents said.