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Following careful consideration the government will be making offers to purchase a further 940 properties in Kaiapoi and Pines Beach north of Christchurch, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has announced today.

Of the 1230 residential properties zoned orange for further investigation on 23 June, 860 in Kaiapoi and 80 in Pines Beach have now been zoned red, 220 in the northern part of Kaiapoi have been zoned green and a further 70 in the western part of Kaiapoi will remain in the orange zone for the time being for further investigative work.

The New Zealand Law Society has begun circulating information to its members to allow them to be able to respond to the expected strong demand for advice from recipients of Government offers to purchase in the designated Red Zone.

“Due to the nature of the offers, there are variations from the standard sale and purchase agreements,” says Mr Brownlee.

“Being familiar with the documentation will allow lawyers to give better advice and service, from receipt of the offers by homeowners.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee today welcomed the Christchurch City Council's release of its draft recovery plan for the Christchurch central business district.

The draft CBD Recovery Plan details more than 70 projects, including 10 key projects, to be implemented over the next 10 to 20 years as part of the rebuild of Christchurch following the series of major earthquakes and aftershocks in the region.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says he supports the process being undertaken by the Christchurch City Council to release its draft plan for redevelopment of the central city.

The council has been criticised for not releasing the draft plan 48 hours ahead of its open full council meeting on Thursday, as it’s required to under the Local Government Act 1987.  It intends to release the plan immediately following tomorrow’s meeting.

More than 10,000 winter heat installations have been completed in greater Christchurch, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.

Mr Brownlee said the Earthquake Commission’s (EQC) project manager Fletcher EQR has now installed 7172 heat pumps and repaired or installed nearly 2835 solid fuel burners.

“Fletcher EQR has worked hard to ensure the people in most need have been attended to.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett have announced that temporary accommodation assistance is available for Cantabrians in the residential red zone.

From today Temporary Accommodation Assistance (TAA) will be available for Christchurch residents who own homes within the residential red zone.

“This will help earthquake-affected residents who’ve had to move out of their own home and have extra accommodation costs to cover,” says Mr Brownlee.

The government has developed further details of its offer to buy the properties of insured Canterbury homeowners in the residential red zone, including legal support and generous deposit rates, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.

“The package includes a $3.83 million contribution to the legal costs of homeowners’ in the residential red zone who chose to accept the government’s offers to purchase their property.

Interest in the government's offer to purchase homes in the residential red zone in Canterbury is high, with 2824 consent forms returned by the end of July, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says.

On 23 June the government announced that around 5000 properties were in the residential red zone because their land was unlikely to be suitable for residential occupation for a considerable period of time.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says speculation by The Christchurch Press and others that a decision about orange zoned land in Kaiapoi is due next week is irresponsible.

“Publishing pure speculation shows no sensitivity to the people living in the area.  They want a well considered and robust decision, not something rushed to meet a headline’s expectation,” Mr Brownlee said.

“As a homeowner in an orange zone I know the deep frustration, and at times despair, the uncertainty waiting for land information brings.

The contract to demolish the Copthorne Hotel in Durham Street has been awarded, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.

“The contract has been awarded to local company Leighs Engineering Ltd and the job is expected to be completed within three months,” Mr Brownlee said.

The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) has been working closely with the building owner and Millennium and Copthorne Hotels NZ, whose hotel chain Copthorne had the lease to occupy the building, in awarding the demolition tender.

All of the Selwyn District and large parts of the Waimakariri District have now been reclassified from the white zone to the green zone, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.

"When the Government announced on 23 June that all of greater Christchurch had been mapped into four residential zones, these areas were in the white zone as they had been unmapped by geotechnical engineers," Mr Brownlee said.

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has welcomed the release of economic indicators showing some promising areas of economic activity in Canterbury, but he notes that most of the data is pre-June, so doesn’t show the affect of the major quakes which hit on June 13.

“The indicators released today by the Ministry of Economic Development are consistent with recent Treasury, Infometrics and NZIER reports which show business confidence levels in the Canterbury region are holding up,” Mr Brownlee said.

People living in the greater Christchurch area are being asked by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) to provide their views on what should be done to help the region recover from the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

The information gathered will be used by CERA in producing a Recovery Strategy for the region by the end of this year, in keeping with the requirements of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011.

The Earthquake Commission (EQC) has paid out more than $1 billion in claims for earthquake damage to residential property since 4 September last year, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.

EQC has received nearly 370,000 claims for the 13 separate events since September, including more than 22,000 for the aftershock on 13 June.

“This shows significant amounts of money flowing to claimants,” Mr Brownlee said.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has announced the make-up of the community forum to provide him with information and advice on earthquake recovery matters.

The forum will consist of 38 members from a wide cross-section of the Canterbury community representing business and ethnic interests, as well as residents associations and groups.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the announcement today of zones of land damage in greater Christchurch is the most up-to-date information that can be provided.

"The government will continue to provide the public with timely and accurate information on the state of the land and what it means for residents," Mr Brownlee said.

All greater Christchurch land has been mapped into four zones – red, orange, green and white.

RED ZONE

Prime Minister John Key and Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee on today's announcement concerning earthquake land recovery options.
 

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the government will give an initial update on the state of land in greater Christchurch at a media briefing at 1:30pm tomorrow in Christchurch.

"As part of this announcement, the government will be presenting options for homeowners with insurance in some of the worst affected areas," Mr Brownlee said.

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT and MEDIA RELEASES: 23 JUNE 2011

Prime Minister John Key and Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee on today's announcements.

The government has agreed to prepare an order in council changing Christchurch City Council’s annual planning and accountability responsibilities, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Local Government Minister Rodney Hide announced today.

"The primary goal of this order in council will be to condense the public consultation period for the council's draft 2011/12 annual plan so they can focus on getting on with the recovery process in Canterbury," Mr Brownlee said.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has cautiously welcomed a range of data just released by the Ministry of Economic Development showing positive indicators for the Canterbury economy following September and February’s earthquakes.

“What we’re seeing isn’t yet a trend, but it’s clear evidence things are by no means as bad as some doomsayers predicted they would be,” Mr Brownlee said.

“I sense a real air of optimism in the region at the moment.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee today visited the latest of more than 5000 earthquake damaged Canterbury homes to have a replacement primary heat source installed or repaired by Fletcher Construction.

"As at close of play yesterday, Fletchers had installed 4137 heat pumps and repaired or installed 1020 new solid fuel burners," Mr Brownlee said.

"This is a considerable achievement given the size of the challenge and the complexity of many cases, where work must be done in sequence with emergency repairs."

A new temporary entertainment and performance events village to be set up in North Hagley Park will receive $650,000 from the government's Major Events Development Fund, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Acting Economic Development Minister David Carter announced today.

Mr Brownlee said the government had also backed the Christchurch City Council plan to stage a Rugby World Cup 2011 fanzone and festival events in the North Hagley Park events village and a travelling fan zone for east Christchurch.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says he is heartened by today's announcement from Lion Nathan that it will invest $15 million into building a state-of-the-art warehouse and distribution centre on its badly damaged Canterbury Brewery site in the Christchurch CBD.

"While it is unfortunate that Lion Nathan will no longer be brewing in Christchurch, it's good to have such a positive commitment to staying in Canterbury," Mr Brownlee said.