Scenic monorail on the way for Milford Sound

By MONIQUE DEVEREUX

Developers say their $150 million monorail project to shorten the journey from Queenstown to Milford Sound will go ahead even if a rival gondola project is developed in the same area.

The Fiordland Link Experience was launched in Queenstown on Tuesday with claims that it will fulfil "the pure New Zealand promise" with its lake, off-road and monorail journey through the region's rugged country.

The monorail will cut as much as six hours off the time to travel from Queenstown to Te Anau Downs, a village 25 minutes from Te Anau and just over an hour from Milford Sound.

Project developer Riverstone Holdings has lodged its 500-page environmental impact assessment with the Department of Conservation and expects two years of consultation before construction can begin - if approved.

The competing gondola would carry tourists between the Milford road and the Caples Valley, leaving a short coach journey to the sound.

That proposal is a joint venture between Skyline Enterprises, which runs the Queenstown and Rotorua gondolas, and Ngai Tahu.

It has been billed as a return day trip to Queenstown and is estimated to cost $110 million, but the developers have yet to lodge any resource consent applications.

The journey from Queenstown to Milford Sound can be done in a day, leaving at 7am and returning at 7pm, with just two hours at Milford Sound itself.

The number of tourist buses making the journey each day is leading to congestion and potential environmental problems.

DoC wants the number of people and vehicles allowed into the sound each day capped.

Bob Robertson, chief executive of Riverstone, laid emphasis on Te Anau and the Middle Fiord region as destinations his passengers would want to visit.

A return trip between Queenstown and Lake Te Anau is projected to cost $145.

Mr Robertson said he did not think anyone wanted to see a cap put on the number of people going into the area and his monorail project offered a viable alternative to road traffic.

"Te Anau is a destination in its own right and it is our destination. We see Milford in our promotional line-up as one of many options, and it won't be the top option because I don't have any interest in promoting Milford ... There's enough people going there already.

"Our marketing will be trying to create a new iconic destination which is Te Anau and perhaps Middle Fiord which kind of preserves some of the other iconic spots down there as well."

He said the trip, which would include a catamaran ride from Queenstown, a 43-minute journey in an all-terrain vehicle via a back access road and the 41km ground-level monorail excursion through the Snowden Forest, would "appeal to every single person that comes to New Zealand".

Mr Robertson admitted that without the popularity of Milford Sound the monorail would not be viable.

But he denied that Riverstone's emphasis on Te Anau as its destination was merely a ploy to win the support of local residents for a tourist trip that would essentially take more people to Milford Sound.

When plans for the Milford Skytrail gondola were released in March, Te Anau residents were concerned tourists would bypass their town - on the only road into Milford Sound - and divert millions of tourist dollars away from their economy and into Queenstown.

Mr Robertson said the monorail would be built before the gondola and he believed it was not only "robust enough to stand alone" but would still go ahead even if the gondola project was approved.

If all went according to plan the first tourists would be travelling on the monorail in less than five years.