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Brownlee puts pressure on insurers in Christchurch. - Source: ONE News -
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The Earthquake Recovery Minister hopes the first projects in the Christchurch CBD rebuild will be either announced or started by the end of the year.
Gerry Brownlee will tomorrow release the plan for the rebuild of the central city, severely damaged by the February 2011 earthquake.
Last Friday marked the expiry of the 100-day deadline set for Christchurch's central city development unit to come up with a blueprint for the rebuild, and tomorrow it will be presented to Cabinet for sign-off.
The rebuilding process has been criticised for its excessive
delays, but Brownlee has told TVNZ's Q+A programme he would hope
"the action" on a timeline starts on Tuesday morning.
"I would hope by the end of the year we're seeing some of those projects either announced for delivery or actually started, in the case for a couple of them," he said.
Brownlee said the plan "keeps absolute faith" with the ideas Christchurch people put forward for the Christchurch City Council's draft plan for the rebuild.
"I think it's going to be seen as a fairly exciting plan," he said.
He said what the Government will be announcing tomorrow is "part of giving some effect to the shape of the new city".
In coming months it will be able to make announcements about things like the hospital, an Advanced Technology Hub and a "justice precinct", he said.
"They are very big public assets that are also places of considerable employment. And so that is a pretty significant step in letting other investors know, 'Actually, there is going to be a dynamic here that works'."
Asked who is goping to pay for the plans, Brownlee said will will be a mix of the private and public sectors.
"The vast majority of property in Christchurch is owned by the private sector, and there are numerous investors both in this city, outside the city and internationally who are looking at the prospects of being able to rebuild what will be the centre for a population of about 560,000."
He said the City Council has committed around $790 million towards civic projects in its latest budget.
"So there will be a discussion that goes on from tomorrow about how you sequence those things and what our timeline might look like for their delivery."
The Government has committed $5.5 billion to date towards the recovery and could be up for another $7 billion for the Earthquake Commission, Brownlee said.
"Some of it is provisioned. Some of it is actual. It will be many billions."
Insurance delays
Following his comment this week that he had lost patience with insurance companies dragging their heels over payouts in Christchurch, Brownlee today refused to name the companies he's talking about.
"I don't think that's helpful. I mean, it's the old story - if you start blaming, everybody loses.
"I think what I'm saying is, 'Come on. As an industry, you've got a challenge here which I think has been picked up reasonably well, but we've had probably a few too many months not being able to get any clarity about the go-forward,' and I think that's the problem at the moment."
Brownlee said he accepts there are some reasons for the lack of movement on claims, such as apportionment arguments and discussions between EQC and the private insurers.
"But for a lot of people, I think there is potential for a greater degree of movement than we are seeing at the present time."
The magnitude 6.3 quake in February 2011 caused widespread damage across Christchurch, especially in the central city and eastern suburbs.
Damage which was exacerbated by buildings already weakend by the 7.1 quake in September 2010.