The 80-metre-long structure has been designed to enable in-water marine servicing and vessel loading.
The 80-metre-long structure has been designed to enable in-water marine servicing and vessel loading.
A $15 million commercial wharf and floating pontoon in Thames, designed to boost the region’s aquaculture industry, is set to open for business next month.
Kopu Marine Servicing and Business Precinct will be opened by Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters in late June. It was expected to generate up to 100 jobs.
The project has been 10 years in the making after a survey of Kopu business operators in 2013 identified infrastructure and service needs for the business park upgrade and gateway concept.
The 80-metre-long structure has been designed to enable in-water marine servicing and vessel loading.
The new facility included an unsealed haul-out area, an upgraded commercial slipway, a public boat ramp and a trailer parking area.
The project cost was met through an $8.2m grant from the Government’s Crown Infrastructure Partners Fund bolstered with central, regional, district and community funds.
A further $565,000 was granted from the Waikato Regional Council’s Regional Fund while the Thames Community Board has underwritten the contingency shortfall with external funding sought for the remaining $565,000.
The project was originally costed at $10m and initially received an $8.2m grant from a government infrastructure fund in 2020 - part of the $50 billion Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund.
The cost would have blown out further if major contracts weren’t signed before July 27, 2022, which mitigated the financial pressures brought on by inflation, supply-chain issues and a tight labour market.
Thames-Coromandel Mayor Len Salt with project engineers at a site meeting in November 2023.
The fund aimed to provide opportunities to redeploy regional skills and training through so-called “shovel-ready” projects.
Thames-Coromandel Mayor Len Salt said Kopu and the surrounding area would now have a fit-for-purpose recreational boat ramp and parking, “but more importantly to the economic wellbeing of the entire district, we’ll have commercial facilities to service vessels with the potential to create as many as 100 new jobs over time”.
“With the Kopu Marine Precinct nearly open to service industry vessels, and with Te Ariki Tahi Sugarloaf Wharf, our district has two important bits of infrastructure positioned to enable the aquaculture industry to grow.”
This month, finishing touches have included the installation of streetlights, power, water and CCTV cameras in the vicinity of the commercial wharf and boat ramp, signage, fencing, planting and sealing of King St.
In April, finishing touches were made to accessways and infrastructure including culverts along Quay St, stormwater swales being dug, the precinct’s gravel pavement topped up and the footpath along King St poured.
Urban Solutions is overseeing construction under the council’s direction, with contractors Fulton Hogan, Land + Sea Civil and Heron Construction carrying out the work. Local subcontractors are being used as much as possible throughout the build.
2020 - $8.2m approved by the Government for the development of a marine and business precinct in Kopu.
2018 - A feasibility study for Kopu was completed and an application to the central government Provincial Growth Fund for a business case to progress the project was approved.
2015 - Kopu Doing Business Better programme was launched. A working group was established with representation from our TCDC staff, NZTA, Waikato Regional Council, iwi and the Kopu Landowners Association. In conjunction with BECA, a professional services consultancy, a draft Kopu development concept plan was produced. The draft Kopu development concept plan was submitted to the council’s Proposed District Plan.
2014 - With input from the working group, BECA produced a draft Kopu development concept plan - Stage 1 report was presented to Kopu businesses on in March 2014 for their comment and submission to the Proposed District Plan. Thames Community Board submitted to the Proposed District Plan in favour of the concept plan. This concept plan was intended to be a development framework which would form an additional layer of detail to the Kopu to Thames Structure Plan.
2013 - A survey of Kopu business operators was conducted which helped identify infrastructure and service needs and ideas for the Kopu business park upgrade and gateway concept. The survey resulted in the Kopu Concept Plan Analysis Summary.
