The Waikare Gorge realignment project will improve State Highway 2 between Napier and Wairoa, adding resilience to a key section of the East Coast’s road network.
The project has an estimated cost of $350 million to $425m and features 4km of new highway and a 160m-long bridge high above the gorge.
SH2 will take a new path when the project is completed. Photo / NZTA
The old Waikare Gorge bridge was washed away during Cyclone Gabrille in 2023.
A temporary bridge now stands in its place.
The land in question includes sections of farmland at 5237 and 5257 State Highway 2 at Pūtōrino, on the southern side of the gorge.
According to the notice, Land Information New Zealand (Linz), which represents the Crown, wants to acquire about 8ha.
It also wants to lease a further 6ha, which will eventually be returned to the landowner.
The land is owned by Dianne and Christopher Torr, who are directors of an associated group, Waikare Dairy.
The Torrs declined to comment when contacted by Hawke’s Bay Today.
In terms of process, the landowners (or other related parties) have 20 working days to object directly to the Environment Court, in which case a hearing will be scheduled.
The Waikare Gorge bridge was destroyed during Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / NZME
If there is no objection, the Crown will compulsorily acquire the land, and compensation will be made to the landowner.
While the window for making an objection remains open, none have been made to date.
“Generally, objections are rare, but the Crown has received objections in the past for other projects,” Linz assessment leader Anneke Turton said.
The acquisition process had previously included a Notice of Desire, she said, which involved inviting the owner to sell the land and providing them with an estimate of the land’s value as assessed by a registered valuer.
“[If] the Crown or local authority has made every endeavour to acquire the land by agreement for at least three months [and] if no agreement is reached … the Crown agency which requires the land will submit a request to Linz seeking that the Minister for Land Information [Mike Butterick] issue a Notice of Intention,” Turton said.
An explainer about the land acquisition process, published on a Government website, says the most common issue that prevented a purchase agreement was “differences over the value of the land being acquired”.
“Usually, compulsory acquisition occurs where agreement is considered unlikely to be reached within the timeframes necessary to secure the land,” the explainer states.
Once construction is underway, the entire realignment project will take about four years to complete.
It is hoped to be completed by the end of 2030.
All other private land required for the project has now been acquired, NZ Transport Agency confirmed.