August 30, 2024

A suite of recovery and resilience projects underway in Kaipara District is set to benefit from more than half a million dollars in central government funds.

In a recent announcement, Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell confirmed $596,720 to Kaipara District Council from the Cyclone Recovery Capability Fund, which was set up to support councils in accelerating recovery efforts following the severe weather events of 2023.

Kaipara District Council Mayor Craig Jepson welcomed the boost that would be funnelled into Dargaville stopbank repairs, culvert upgrades and river cleaning to improve water flow in pressure areas, and more.

“This money will do exactly what it says on the tin – speed up our repair and recovery efforts already in progress. We are grateful for the central government funding supporting us to do our work here, now we’re focused on improving the resilience across Kaipara so our communities can continue to grow and thrive.”

Chief Executive Jason Marris says following the extreme weather events, staff worked quickly to identify and scope repairs and resilience work needed so that projects could be incorporated into upcoming work programmes.

“An initial round of external funding meant we were able to kickstart these projects. We are a small council organisation and this extra boost now allows us to go out and get the outside resources needed to accelerate the work, something which we were not able to do previously. This greatly reduces the risks to delivery and ensures our teams can get the job done as quickly as possible.”

The funds from the Cyclone Recovery Capability Fund have been specifically allocated for components of work such as project management, quality assurance, and stopbank and floodwall expertise across five projects.

The Kaipara District projects set to benefit from Cyclone Recovery Capability funding:

Beach Road culvert
The Beach Road culvert is a critical piece of infrastructure in the Dargaville township flood defence network. During the cyclone, council staff and contractors utilised tractor-driven pumps to remove floodwater from behind the Beach Road culvert. This project increases the culvert size so that it can release more flood water on a low tide and be more resilient to future flood events.

Awakino railway embankment just north of Dargaville township 
Once completed, a 500 metre long earth stopbank onto the upstream side of the Awakino railway will stabilise the bank, avoiding a sudden mass release as it did during Cyclone Gabrielle. Design has already been completed for the project.

Dargaville floodwall/stopbank repairs
Repairs on four sections of the stopbanks/flood walls protecting Dargaville township from flooding by the Northen Wairoa and Kaihu rivers. These repairs are ready for construction and are essential to prevent the flooding of the Dargaville central business district and the residential suburb of Mangawhare.

Dargaville wastewater treatment plant bund heightening
During Gabrielle, the Dargaville wastewater treatment plant area was flooded, with floodwaters entering the maturation pond and also coming close to entering the oxidation pond. This project raises the height of the earth bund around the maturation pond and the most vulnerable segments around the oxidation pond, preventing this from reoccurring. In all, it equates to around 1000 metres of bunds to be heightened. This project is in design with staff preparing it for delivery.

Awakino River mouth cleaning
This project involves clearing the Awakino River mouth, in collaboration with Northland Regional Council. It includes cleaning up the lower riverbanks and removing silt from the Awakino river mouth, where it meets the Wairoa River to improve the water flow in high rain events.

Note that these projects are already supported with central government funding.

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