Kia ora Suze

Christchurch City Holdings Ltd is now in receipt of your LGOIMA request. Your request is dated 4 April 2024.

We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than Friday 3 May 2024, being 20 working days after the day your request was received by CCHL. This timeframe includes a public holiday which will be observed on Thursday 25 April 2024 (Anzac Day).

If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension to that timeframe.

Ngâ mihi
Christchurch City Holdings

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Kia ora Suze

CCHL wishes to advise an extension of time is required to respond to your request, CCHL will provide you with its response no later than close of business on Friday 10 May 2024.

Ngâ mihi

Sue

Sue Taylor | Executive Assistant
[email address]

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Kia ora Suze

I refer to your request dated 4 April 2024 for the following information:

1. What do the two letters from CIAL and CCHL actually mean in practice?
2. What are the project costs to date?
3. What debt has been incurred to finance the proposal to date?
4. What current ongoing expenditures will be canceled?
5. What is the number of full-time equivalent staff planned for the quarter April-June 2024 on the project?
6. What is the number of consultants working on the project?
7. What is the return on the land in its current use?
8. How much more dividend could CIAL return if all project costs were stopped and the land sold?
9. Is the Tarras Community Fund still open for applications, and will it remain open?

CCHL’s response
Question number 1:
CCHL has publicly stated that we continue to see Central Otago as a high growth region, and as such one that needs to resolve what role sustainable aviation will play in supporting that growth. There are options, one of which is a new airport in Tarras and as that will not be a static conversation, it is difficult to say that this, or any transport project in Central Otago, is definitively 'on hold'.

However, we do acknowledge the strategic context around that decision has changed in recent times. This includes new direction at a national and regional level on infrastructure priorities, and how we adapt to a future that provides for sustainable tourism. In addition to this, CCHL and Council, as our ultimate shareholder, have signalled we are operating in a more capital constrained environment. With this in mind, the CIAL Board has decided it is appropriate they take time to reflect on what this means for the Central Otago project. CCHL is supportive of that, and together with CIAL, we will remain an engaged stakeholder as the region grapples with these issues.

Question number 2 - 8:
The information included in your questions numbered 2 to 8 above is considered commercially sensitive and therefore we have decided to refuse your request to access that information under the following sections of the LGOIMA – Section (7(2)(b)(i)) is a trade secret or prejudice commercial position, (7(2)(b)(ii)) commercial activities (7(2)(h)), or negotiations (7(2)(i)).

In CCHL’s view the reasons for withholding these details are not outweighed by public interest considerations in section 7(1) favouring their release.

Question number 9:
Christchurch Airport has previously made the commitment to continue to have the Community Fund in place for as long as it owns its land in Tarras (see https://www.centralotagoairport.co.nz/up...). That commitment remains. If there were to be any change in that, Christchurch Airport would first discuss that with the Community Fund Committee overseeing the Fund.”

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/ or freephone 0800 802 602.

Ngâ mihi

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