18 July 2000

Three hours have been set aside for a special meeting of a Christchurch City Council committee on Monday to discuss a request for a $500,000 loan for a Lyttelton marina.

Yesterday the Strategy and Resources Committee decided to call for reports on various aspects of the marina proposal to be considered at Monday’s meeting.

The meeting will start at 9am and will reconsider a request to enter into a partnership to complete the marina. At the last full Council meeting the request was turned down after discussions in camera.

Special reports on the marina’s finances and engineering aspects will be considered on Monday 24 July.

The committee heard a four-man delegation representing boating and sailing interests yesterday. The executive director of the Boating Industry Association of New Zealand, Peter Busfield, emphasised the importance of the industry to Canterbury and that a lack of marina "will make it difficult for the local industry."

The deputation sought a loan of $500,000 so that the marina could be completed.

The committee chairman, Cr. David Close, said yesterday that the proposals were not to be a "bail out of a commercial venture." The proposal was for a local government-controlled company to complete the marina, he said.

He said the City Council had been accused of taking millions of dollars out of Lyttelton but having put nothing in. "The Council put $8 million in 1991 into the Port Company when it was in a parlous state financially," Cr. Close said.

Since then the Council had received at least $18 million in dividends from the company, he said.