Thumbs down for monorail
Conservation Minister Nick Smith rejected the proposal to build a $240 million monorail through Fiordland because it did ‘‘not stack up either economically or environmentally’’.
An independent review commissioned to test the case for the Riverstone Holdings’ project – a tourist trip using a catamaran, an all-terrain vehicle and then the monorail ride to get from Queenstown to Milford – showed it would not work, Smith said, though the developer claimed otherwise.
‘‘I was surprised by just how negative the review of the business case was,’’ Smith said.
‘‘The recommendation from the independent consultant was that this thing had negligible chance of being financially viable and actually recommended that the applicant withdraw the application.’’
Smith commissioned the review after the Department of Conservation (DOC) and a hearing commissioner recommended the project go ahead with strict conditions last October. The review showed Riverstone Holdings was ‘‘way too optimistic’’ about its future market share, had underestimated construction costs and had not provided accurate information on the potential environmental costs, he said.
The taxpayer would also have been lumped with a bill of up to $275 million to remove the track if the business failed.
But Riverstone Holdings director Bob Robertson said New Zealand had missed a ‘‘huge opportunity’’ to boost tourism, jobs and the local economy. The project’s economic viability could not have been truly understood until extensive engineering design was undertaken and a business plan developed – which would have taken months and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But the risk would have been completely on Riverstone, Robertson said. ‘‘Given this, his decision does not stand to reason.’’
The company had worked closely with DOC for eight years to develop the plan, and the independent hearing commissioner’s report had concluded the monorail could be constructed with only minor impacts, Robertson said.
But Smith said that rather than impose conditions which were ‘‘just unachievable I think it is fairer to the applicant to just say no’’.
It is the second major proposal involving conservation lands to be rejected in the area, after last year turning down a bus tunnel between Queenstown and Milford Sound.
Smith said he made no apologies for setting the bar high but was not proposals.
Proposals in a world heritage area and New Zealand’s largest and most significant national park had to stack up economically and environmentally ‘‘and the two that I have seen to date don’t,’’ he said.
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei called it a ‘‘victory for people and the environment’’.
Labour’s Ruth Dyson called it ‘‘a victory for common sense’’ while UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne said he was relieved by the decision.
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