Neither Whakatāne District Council, central Government or the Te Rāhui Herenga Waka board can put a figure on how much money has been lost to the failed Whakatāne boat harbour project.

Both the council and the ministry told Local Democracy Reporting [the Beacon] that Te Rāhui Herenga Waka Whakatāne Board was now developing a wind-down plan and part of that process would identify what had been spent to date and what may be available for redistribution to partners.

When asked how long this was expected to take, Local Democracy Reporting [the payoff] was told the Te Rahui general partner was seeking advice on the required steps before sharing the work programme with the limited partners.

The boat harbour project was canned earlier this month due to rising costs caused by contaminated soils and a diminishing payoff, for the community and local economy.

In December last year, project manager Phil Wardale said $3.7 million had been spent so far on items such as preliminary works, soil testing, security, lighting and machinery.

In 2021, the council, the Crown, through Kānoa - Regional Economic Development and Investment Unit, Te Rāhui Lands Trust and Ngāti Awa Group Holdings formed a limited partnership to oversee the building on the harbour, which had been awarded fast-track consent through the Covid-19 Recovery Act 2020.

The Government committed a total of $19.6 million to the project.

A Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment spokesperson said that, from that, a grant of $1 million had been provided to Te Rāhui Lands Trust and a total of $9.8 million had been invested into the limited partnership to date.

Whakatāne District Council committed $9.8 million to the project in its 2021-2031 Long-term Plan.

Chief executive Steven Perdia said this was to come from a loan against the Harbour Endowment Fund.

“Council has introduced $5.7m to the project to date.”

He said once the costs to council from the project were known that figure would be made public.

The former industrial landfill site on Keepa Road belonging to Te Rāhui Land Trust was once destined to be a boat harbour. Photo / LDR

Delays and cost escalations largely due to soil contamination on the former industrial dump site led to a rescoping report being presented to the Whakatāne council earlier this year, as none of the partners were prepared to put further funds into the project.

On May 7, the partners announced that the boat harbour project would not proceed.

Limited partnership chairman John Rae said among the reasons for not proceeding with the project was significant reduction in size of the land remediation component.

He also named “substantial changes to the broader project scope - such as the removal or reduction of the marine training facility, the reduced number of berths, the size of the hardstand and removal of the dedicated offloading wharf - and the diminished economic and community benefits that underpinned the original business case,” as reasons for not continuing.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.