Sky Waka gondola from Knoll Ridge café at Whakapapa.
Sky Waka gondola from Knoll Ridge café at Whakapapa.
A decision by the Government to contribute $6 million towards creating a new commercial ski operator for Ruapehu will come as a huge relief to the wider region, the district’s mayor says.
The Government announced on Wednesday it would advance a further $6 million in bridging funding to allow time for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to support the development of an alternative commercial solution.
“Following discussions with affected stakeholders, including other creditors and iwi, it has become clear that more time is needed to further explore our options to avoid liquidation,” Minister for Economic and Regional Development Stuart Nash said.
“This additional funding will allow this to occur.”
A survey of life pass holders indicated some support but the amount they could pay fell short of what was needed to create a new entity to operate the Tūroa and Whakapapa ski fields, Nash said.
That meant more time was required to secure funding for a new entity.
“We will provide $6m to enable alternative solutions to be developed and provide sufficient working capital to retain the RAL [Ruapehu Alpine Lifts] management team while a potential resolution continues to be negotiated. This is in addition to the $2 million already extended to RAL from the Crown.
“By providing this bridging finance we will be able to maintain staff who are critical to the maintenance of the assets on the mountain, and enable it to operate next winter.”
Ruapehu mayor Weston Kirton said there was considerable anxiety in the area about RAL going bust.
“The news that RAL was looking at liquidation without further financial support generated a huge amount of concern with people extremely worried about what the ramifications of this would mean for the community.”
Skiing on Mt Ruapehu was too important to the social and economic fabric of the region to be allowed to fail, Kirton said.
The funding would allow RAL to keep up essential maintenance and get through to opening for the 2023 season.
“Council would like to thank Minister Nash for recognising the significant importance that skiing on Mt Ruapehu has on the regional economy and getting agreement from Cabinet for this additional $6m in funding.
“While it is not a long-term solution to RAL’s woes it is the much-needed lifeline needed at this time.”
Kirton said his council was committed to working out a long-term, commercially viable solution for the mountain.
On November 18 MBIE asked RAL’s administrators to forward a letter and a non-binding survey to the ski operator’s active 11,000 life pass holders to find out how many would pay to help prop up a new entity.
The survey needed to get a positive response from at least 6000 life pass holders but ended up getting 4494 positive responses, and 2937 said they were willing to contribute $2500 each, now.
Of those - 2614 said they were willing to pay a further $250 per year in the next two or three years.
That commitment equated to a potential $7.34 million now and $0.65 million per year.
A statement from Nash also said a separate survey of the general public shows there’s potential for more money to be raised outside of the life pass holders.
