Former mayor Hamish McDouall says the Te Pūwaha project could have been "closed off with the simple flick of a pen.”. Photo / Whanganui District Council
A frantic week in 2020 may have saved Whanganui’s award-winning port project Te Pūwaha from being scuppered.
It has been revealed that as the country went into its first Covid-19 lockdown, Provincial Growth Fund money destined for the project was in line to be reallocated.
Then-minister of regional economic development Shane Jones was due in Whanganui on March 25, 2020, to announce millions of dollars in funding for the port’s revitalisation.
A day later, the country entered lockdown and Jones’ visit was put on hold.
On March 27, a Whanganui District Council manager and an iwi representative held a teleconference with a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) official to discuss timeframes for the port, former mayor Hamish McDouall said.
“The manager gave his best estimate and that was that.
“Within two or three weeks we started hearing rumours about the funding being paused, and none of us could believe it.”
McDouall said he understood why the government needed to find extra money because the impact of Covid-19 on the economy was going to be huge.
“We were absolutely horrified that they had decided the port was one of those things.
“In retrospect, it seemed like a shoot-from-the-hip reaction. A hatchet man had been brought in to find some money and went for something that was totally wrong.”
Head of investment management at Kānoa-RDU, David van der Zouwe, said it began working through applications and projects in April 2020 to see where PGF money could be repurposed to support projects that focused on immediate jobs, timeliness and visibility as well as the PGF’s “underlying objectives”.
“This included repurposing some funding that had already been allocated against specific initiatives.
“While projects relating to the Port of Whanganui would have been examined as part of this process, they were among many applications and projects undergoing similar scrutiny.
“Ultimately, these Port of Whanganui projects did not have their funding repurposed.”
Kānoa – Regional Economic Development and Investment Unit (Kānoa-RDU) is part of the MBIE.
It is the agency that delivers the PGF and in 2020, when the projects were granted the funds from the PGF, Kānoa – RDU was still known by its old name, the Provincial Development Unit (PDU).
Te Pūwaha is a partnership between Whanganui iwi, led by hapū group Te Mata Pūau, and Whanganui District Council, Horizons Regional Council, Q-West Boat Builders and Whanganui District Employment Training Trust.
The project’s governance group was still in its infancy in March 2020 and the PDU talked to lower-level officials in Whanganui during the initial teleconference, former Te Pūwaha project chairman Gerrard Albert said.
Albert is currently the chairman of Te Kōpuka (the strategy group for Te Awa Tupua) and the former chairman of Ngā Tāngata Tiaki o Whanganui (NTT).
“That (teleconference) didn’t compute to us because the process was insufficient and wasn’t held at the right levels,” he said.
“They (PDU) were just going to call people who were not engaged with governance and then send out a message saying the project was canned and the funding wasn’t coming.”
Iwi, along with Q-West owner Myles Fothergill, went to McDouall and Horizons Regional Council chairwoman Rachel Keedwell to alert them to the seriousness of the situation, Albert said.
“As an iwi, we have no stake in this really, not to the degree of the councils and Myles, but we wanted to make a stand.
“We knew they (government) were trying to find $885 million to throw into the Covid-19 fund from different projects around the country.”
On April 30, McDouall sent a letter to regional economic development (RED) ministers saying he was aware of the “ill-timed” teleconference and that he had heard council and iwi were not seen as being supportive.
That was followed by a teleconference with an MBIE official who confirmed that the funding had been “identified as being pulled”, McDouall said.
The groups involved in the project were asked collectively to clarify timeframes and their commitment to the project.
“There was a weekend where it was just constant Zoom meetings. Things got pretty intense because we were all at home.
“I went in to work at council one of those days because I couldn’t access all my records. The whole place was completely empty.
“It was a pretty dramatic time, in a pretty dramatic time in New Zealand’s history.”
A letter signed by McDouall, Fothergill, Albert, Keedwell, and Whanganui Land Settlement Negotiation Trust chairman Ken Mair was sent to RED ministers on May 5.
“We have worked extremely hard over the last 10 days to convey more detail to enhance the Government’s understanding of what we have achieved to this point and what we are confident of achieving in the immediate and medium to long term,” it said.
“The two councils, tangata whenua, and the private sector are acting cohesively.
“The Government is a partner in this project both as a funder and a participant. We look forward to continuing to work with the Government on an innovative and exciting large multi-faceted project for the benefit of all Whanganui.”
Fothergill said the government’s decision on the funding was able to be deferred from a Friday to a Monday.
“That was the first weekend of May.
“It was pretty crazy at the time but we managed to convince them that the project was real and we were able to make a success of it.
“We are really thankful that the government did turn around and listen to us. Whanganui has had its fair share of missing out on stuff in the past, and this is an important project for the community.”
Q-West received a $5.25 million loan from the PGF.
It will eventually move to new purpose-built premises featuring a 330-tonne vessel hoist.
Jones made it to Whanganui in June 2020, announcing a total of $26.75 million in funding for port projects.
Outside of the blip that April and May, the government had been supportive, McDouall said.
“The port project is a complex thing, with so many voices and stakeholders. There is a lot to get right.
“Sure, every so often there’s been a bit of blood on the floor here and there, but it remains a massive opportunity that could have been closed off with the simple flick of a pen.”
Community leadership was an important part of Te Pūwaha, Albert said.
“Guys like Phil Gilmore from the surf life saving club at Castlecliff know more about how sand moves and what currents do than any of the high-paid consultants that get flown in.
“That’s what politicians don’t understand, that our experts are our community.”
Albert said Te Pūwaha’s governance group met government ministers Stuart Nash and Willie Jackson in Whanganui last year, who were at that time pushing for an independent chair for the project.
“They were under pressure to show progress, and they were honest about that.
“We had made progress, demonstrably and physically, with demolition, preparation, procurement of rock and all that kind of thing.
“I told them that the NTT was independent and wasn’t getting a cent, and they should go back to Wellington and read the Te Awa Tupua Act.
“On the issue of an independent chair, we haven’t heard from them since.”
Nash said Te Pūwaha was a fantastic project and a true partnership between Iwi, local councils, and central Government.
“I know everyone is working together to make sure this project gets completed on time.
“It was fantastic to be able to visit the project last month, and I know it will be an enormous asset for the region. I look forward to seeing this project completed.”
The total investment in Te Pūwaha is more than $50 million.
In October 2022, it was given the top prize in the Best Practice Collaboration category at the Economic Development New Zealand Awards.
'We’ve got our enforcement teams and where we can, we’ll track them down.'