Lois-Williams
After more than 30 years, Lois Williams has joined the Newsroom as a New Zealand radio journalist and more recently as a local democracy reporter on the West Coast.
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infrastructure
The South Island’s “We (s) t” coast continues to live up to its name, so the flow of public money to keep the locals dry is unabated.
The government is sending an additional $ 10 million to Blur as it recovers from the severe floods of the last two years.
Kieran McAnulti, Minister of Emergency Management, has announced the latest tranche of funding for the Westport district.
With this sum, Buller’s total government recovery package is $ 100 million.
“Funds go beyond the government’s usual financial support arrangements due to the unique situation faced by the Buller community, which lacks the resources and payer base needed to recover to this scale,” McAnulty said. increase.
With additional funding, the Blur District Council can repair damaged infrastructure such as Westport Wharf, dredge the Buller River, and help flooded communities recover.
It also bears the cost of rock conservation work at Reefton, where recent floods have torn lumps from the banks of the Inangawa River in the motor camp, further exposing the garbage dump in the old town downstream.
One chaff measure
Buller Mayor Jamie Cleine is pleased with the $ 10 million cash injection.
“We got everything we asked for-the government was really good about this, to understand our needs and do the work we need to do. Shows that we trust our council. “
Sandwiched between the Buller and Orowaiti rivers and the sea, Westport has been hit by two floods in the past year, with red rains in February causing extensive damage to roads, bridges and farms. And then I fell into another emergency. district.
Blur was hit hard, says McCanalty.
However, an additional $ 10 million will help the district go beyond basic resilience and enter a longer-term resilience stage as it copes with the increasingly frequent and harsh weather caused by climate change.
“This work also underscores the importance of government-sponsored national adaptation plans to assist communities in adapting to the unavoidable effects of climate change, and the review of local governments to provide support for the future. We do, “says Macanalti.
Unlike Greymouth, the larger town on the West Coast, Westport has no flood walls and has escaped severe floods since 1970 until last year.
However, recent events have brought protracted complacency and urgency to the flood defense plan originally proposed by the West Coast Regional Council more than a decade ago.
Please enclose in
Currently, most Westport payers support Congress’s plan to enclose the town with flood walls and a stopbank plan, which will cost $ 10.2 million.
The total cost of the project is at least $ 26 million, and the government has asked Congress to create a “co-investment” business case.
However, the final amount they seek can be much higher. The government states that the package needs to include further flood mitigation measures that take climate change into account.
Options include lifting existing homes above major flood levels, developing parcels on elevated ground, and acquiring landowners in unprotected areas.
As the walls rise, new rainwater systems are also needed, changing the drainage pattern of the town.
Cleine expects this scheme to be approved.
“It’s all about relationships, and I think we’ve established a good relationship between the minister and his officials,” he says.
“I exchanged phone numbers with the Minister. [Former Emergency Management Minister] Kiri Alan and I have always sent text messages to stay in touch, but Kielan seems like a real problem and I hope it continues. “
A draft business case for Westport flood protection is scheduled for June 23, and Congress will approve the final wish list next week before sending it to the Cabinet.
* Created with the support of the Public Interest Journalism Fund *