Hon Dr Nick Smith
Minister for the Environment

3 June 2016

Govt provides $4.2m for Nelson Haven clean-up

The Government will contribute $4.2 million to meet half the costs of the remedial works required to clean-up the Calwell Slipway site at Port Nelson, Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith announced today.

“The Nelson Haven is at risk from the years of historic contamination from copper and tributyltin used in the boat-building industry around the Calwell Slipway. The benefit of this clean-up is protecting the Nelson Haven habitat for migratory wading birds and public recreation. The clean-up is also important for jobs and the Port Company to enable the slipway to continue to undertake repair and maintenance of boats and pave the way for expanding dock space. The clean-up is a joint project between the Nelson City Council and Port Nelson, with Government support.

“This grant is part of a steady and systematic programme to clean-up New Zealand’s most seriously contaminated sites. The site is ranked fourth most important in New Zealand. The Contaminated Sites Remediation Fund provides funding support to councils to assist in the clean-up of orphan sites and $42.5 million has been expended to date. Todays $4.2 million comes on top of $317,000 for previous grants to support the investigation and planning phases of the project. The total clean-up is expected to cost $8.3 million.

“The costs of these clean-ups can be an enormous burden on ratepayers. The Government is prepared to step up and provide support where we are satisfied the proper controls have been put in place to prevent any ongoing pollution, where the clean-up project has been well researched and designed and the council and partners, such the Nelson port company, are sharing the costs of dealing with an historic problem.”

The clean-up project involves stabilising the sediments in cement to form mudcrete so they are contained and cannot pollute the Haven. The work is expected to take eight months.

“These sorts of clean-up projects are technically very challenging. The clean-up at Mapua was badly mismanaged under the former government. Important lessons have been learned and subsequent clean-ups have been successful,” Dr Smith says.

“This historic contamination problem in the Nelson Haven is a blight on our reputation as one of New Zealand’s cleanest and greenest regions. It is good that we are getting on and cleaning it up.”

ends

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