Fisher: There are only 10 direct jobs to come out of theatre

The region’s sluggish start out of the blocks has been identified as a reason Provincial Growth Fund cash for the theatre hasn’t yet been confirmed.

Funding for the $73.9 million Waikato Regional Theatre remained elusive in August with Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones refusing to give an indication on the status of the application when in Hamilton. At a meeting of Hamilton City Council’s Growth and Infrastructure Committee, Te Waka chairman Dallas Fisher said Waikato only has itself to blame.

‘‘It’s fair to say that because we didn’t have our economic development act together when the PGF was launched, we were slow out of the blocks,’’ Fisher said. ‘‘We simply couldn’t present a series of projects that were rational to the government.’’

Te Waka is the region’s economic development agency tasked with driving economic growth.

Momentum Waikato, the group behind the theatre, made the $15m PGF application at the end of 2018. The grant is seen as the final hurdle to the theatre getting under way. Eight months later, there is still no answer.

‘‘In respect to the theatre, whilst there may have been a certain amount of information provided at one point, there was a bit of a drip feed of various information,’’ Fisher said.

‘‘It’s a complex project and the understanding of both the direct jobs and indirect jobs for the theatre, which is really underpins a PGF grant, is not simple. There are only 10 direct jobs to come out of the theatre. It’s the indirect jobs where the action is and how it fits into the whole system.’’ Fisher was confident the application has progressed.