Golden Bay’s resilience in the face of a future natural disaster has been further reinforced with the final touches going on many parts of the massive $12 million redevelopment at Port Tarakohe.
In 2018, cyclones Fehi and Gita lashed the region causing millions of dollars of damage, leaving Golden Bay’s only land access over Tākaka Hill unusable.
One solution to reconnect Golden Bay to get supplies in and out was via sea, with barges. Taking lessons from this, we’ve built a new ‘Resilience Ramp’ to make the job of loading and unloading barges a lot more straightforward.
A number of other improvements have also been completed at Port Tarakohe with fendering upgrades, four new commercial berths with floating concrete pontoons, new lighting, a new water supply, and spalling repairs to the concrete wharf.
A dawn blessing was held last month at the Port to lay a mauri stone, marking the beginning of the new office and an amenities block for Port users.
This significant event marked the collaborative efforts of Port Tarakohe businesses, us, and Manawhenua ki Mohua. The stone laying represented a positive step towards building and strengthening relationships, as the new facility brings benefits to the entire community.
Meanwhile, the long-term vision for the port is being developed with iwi, key stakeholders, recreational users, and the wider community in the Port Tarakohe Structure Plan.
In the next few weeks, we’ll be releasing the draft structure plan and calling for the community to provide feedback to ensure the proposed actions are the right ones.