Westport has suffered several major floods in recent times, including this one in July last year. Photo: Supplied/NZ Defence Force
Work to urgently bolster Westport's historic flood defences will not start until land tenure is sorted out.
The West Coast Regional Council has already done work on the Organs Island rockwall, where the Buller River meets the overflow to the Orowaiti River, about 12km upstream of Westport township.
An aerial view of the Westport area showing the main flooding pressure point at Organs Island, bottom. Photo: Supplied / West Coast Regional Council
However, work to fix scouring of the riverbank close to the town boundary and O'Conor Home has yet to start.
Regional council chief executive Heather Mabin said ownership had not been resolved, and it would not "be prudent" to start on the project until it was.
"We have gone to tender for the scour, however, we will not be beginning work until the land tenure is sorted out."
Meanwhile, the council was awaiting a decision on the $56 million Kawatiri business case, submitted to the government at the end of June after it requested a fully scoped flood protection scheme including stopbanks, and future retreat, community resilience and climate change options.
An answer was initially expected in September.
"We're hopeful that the government will refund the regional council for the money we have willingly put into Organs Island, and potentially the scoured bank at O'Conor Home."
Westport's O'Conor Home, on the southeastern fringe of the town, has been evacuated more than once due to the threat of the Buller River bursting its bank, about 300m south. Photo: LDR / Greymouth Star / Brendon McMahon
Mabin said once they had an answer on the business case, the council would finalise the design, with an eye to the potential future annual costs on Westport ratepayers who would have to fund ongoing maintenance.
"We have to make sure it has a high capital value and lower maintenance costs," she said.
Practically, this meant ensuring the scheme was built to the highest specifications to ensure ongoing maintenance costs were kept to a minimum.
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