Weston Kirton: Ruapehu District Mayor on the Whakapapa skifield deal

The Ruapehu District could be in for an economic boom with new skifield ownership. 

The Department of Conservation's approved a 10 year concession for Whakapapa Holdings to operate the Whakapapa side of Mount Ruapehu. 

An agreement for the Turoa side was struck last year, following a lengthy bidding war, with numerous Government bailouts. 

Mayor Weston Kirton told Mike Hosking it’s a critical milestone in securing the future of skiing in Mount Ruapehu. 

He says it gives confidence to the wider tourism sector, and provides a huge amount of income to the community and region – to the tune of around $100 million. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good news for the Central North Island as well as
the tourism sector. Fuck a pupa ski field deal. It's done,
ten year concession from doc to fucking Papa holdings. The
governments on the hook for about fifty million is to
give it the field open the ru of pay Who
mere Western curtain is with us Western bring good morning to.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
You, Yes, good morning Mike.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
What's your sense of this relief?

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Oh, it certainly is.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's a critical milestone mic and securing the future of
our ski skiing in Mount re Pehu, and it gives
confidence to the wider tourism sector, and it provides a
huge amount of income for our community and the region
to the Tuna around one hundred million dollars.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
So we had a lot of the stake here.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
I followed it very closely. I get the sense it
shouldn't have been as complex or as angsty as it got. Fair.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well, that's fair, I think taxpayers. We are putting money
into this operation back in twenty twenty two, and of
course everyone had the opinion about it being in receivership
where we should go ahead or go have government money
into this. But of course the government's propped it up
enough for it to actually proceed to get over the
line the possibility of other bidders in receivership. Of course,

(01:04):
in twenty twenty two then we saw one or two
bidders coming forward and they had to go through the
due diligence, and government had faith in the fact that
there was a future for skiing in this region, and
of course we got over line the consultation phase. And
of course now.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
We've got a situation whereby the ministers made the call
yesterday and we already appreciate and thank all those concerned
to get th overline for our communities.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Fantastic wisdom. Good to catch up and I'm glad it's
worked out well for you Western Curtain. Who's the Ruyal
of pay who met?

Speaker 2 (01:35):
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