Council seeks $107m for projects
The Invercargill City Council have requested $57.8 million in grant funding and a $50m loan from Crown Infrastructure Partners for five shovel-ready projects.
The five projects include the inner-city redevelopment, the Stead St stop bank project, The Bluff master plan, The Branxholme pipeline renewal project and the Civic Administration Building redevelopment.
On April 1, infrastructure minister Shane Jones asked for applications for infrastructure projects that were ready to start within six months.
Crown Infrastructure Partners were assisting the Infrastructure Industry Reference Group in preparing a list of projects to put forward to the minister.
The inner-city redevelopment project has a capital spend of $270m and the council has applied for $33m in grant funding, along with a loan of roughly $50m from the crown.
Council executive officer Andrew Cameron said that the loan would replace bank loan investments of $53m for the project.
Seeking the loan investment through the crown would help manage risks associated with being unable to secure a bank loan because of economic uncertainty caused by Covid-19, Cameron said.
The inner-city redevelopment project has a capital spend of $270 million and the council has applied for $33 million in grant funding, along with a loan of roughly $50 million from the crown.
‘‘There might be reasons why the market is failing which means you can’t draw that loan for some reason,’’ he said.
The Stead Street stop bank was a joint initiative between the council and Environment Southland and included various stop bank projects including the Waihopai stop bank, Otepuni stop bank, the shared walkway from the wharf to the airport and the Stead Street pump station
The project was expected to cost $22.7m with $15.5m coming from the city council and $7.2m from Environment Southland.
Funding was initially requested at $8.3m but increased to $11.35m to match Environment Southland’s application for 50 per cent of the project cost.
Invercargill City Council interim parks manager Michelle Frey requested $4.7m towards two projects included in the Bluff Master Plan, yet to be finalised.
The two projects, the Bluff boat ramp and the cycleway between Bluff and Invercargill, were estimated to cost $11.7m
Council water manager Alister Murray requested $3.75m for the Branxholme pipeline renewal project, a third of its projected total of $11.25m.
Council building assets manager Paul Horner said the Civic Administration Building renovation was expected to cost $8.3m and was in the pipeline for the next two to three years.
However, after re-evaluating the cost of renovating the whole building, instead of just two to three floors, it would cost $15.8m.
Horner requested $5m to cover a third of the projects cost.