Generation of sportspeople miss out as venue wait continues
Adecade is a long time for a city to wait for sporting facilities. By the time the metro sports facility opens in 2021, a generation of Christchurch sportspeople will have come of age without the amenities many modern cities take for granted.
The new facility is to replace QEII Park lost in the 2011 earthquakes, and cater for everyday and high-performance use, both wet and dry. The Canterbury Earthquake Rebuild Authority first promised ‘‘a world-class venue and centre of sporting excellence, accessible to people of all ages, abilities and sporting skills’’ to open in early 2016.
The new Government has now pushed out the expected completion date again. Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods has blamed a $75 million budget blowout to a new total of about
$300m, and its burden on the taxpayer.
She has ordered a review of the plan, suggesting some aspects could be incorporated into the city’s planned new stadium, due to be built by the mid-2020s.
Woods has sent the chosen early contractor for Christchurch’s new metro sports facility packing. The Crown will now complete the detailed design work and will then look for a contractor for construction only.
Under the 2013 cost-sharing agreement, the Crown agreed to put $70.3m (mostly for land costs) into the project and the council
$147m (partly from insurance payouts for QEII Park). Costs at this stage were unknown and the source of the rest of the money undecided.
The Crown took the responsibility of getting the project done, allowing council design approval. The agreement stated that council would run the completed facility, which it would own jointly with a private party.
Sports groups including for swimming and basketball have again expressed their disappointment at yet another delay. For them, there will be up to four more years of squeezing into temporary venues, restricting numbers for training and competitions, missing out on top events, bussing teams to other cities and paying motel bills, and seeing top competitors move north.
Christchurch residents have yet another blow to their morale, already sapped by a slow rebuild. Citing commercial considerations, the public and private parties to the metro sports plans have negotiated behind closed doors. Taxpayers and ratepayers funding the facility have received updates only when details of another delay, change in plans, or cost escalation were announced or leaked.
As with the convention centre, which is now under construction, the metro sports facility planning was a joint public-private effort until the Crown realised it wasn’t working and it needed to go it alone.
The construction sector has talked of the financial risks the public sector wants it to shoulder on such projects. Construction companies say such risks are beyond their control.
In the meantime, the Government has been trying to control costs to the taxpayer while construction prices rise.
The earthquakes began over six years ago. The blueprint is over five years old. The latest completion date for the metro sports facility is three and a half years away.