Infrastructure on Mt Ruapehu would have to be dismantled, at a cost of up to $100 million, if ski fields there ever fell into disuse.
A row is brewing over Government plans to privatise the ski fields on Mt Ruapehu, with the issue expected to cause lively debate at a creditors meeting scheduled for Tuesday next week.
This week the Government announced it would back two companies bidding to take over Whakapapa and Tūroa ski fields from Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL), which went into voluntary administration in October with debts of more than $45 million.
But favoured bidders, Whakapapa Holdings and Pure Tūroa, seem to have a fight on their hands. Representatives of the Ruapehu Skifields Stakeholders Association (RSSA), which represents life pass holders, want to establish an improved version of the community-owned model which has operated on the mountain for about 70 years. And RSSA has promised stiff resistance against anything less.
“The Government are throwing everything they’ve got against the ski community and local iwi,” RSSA lawyer Peter Thompson said.
“There is even a clear threat to nuke the ski season if we don’t fall into line and rubber stamp their back-room deal to privatise the assets.”
Ruapehu was a challenging mountain by international standards, with icy conditions affecting infrastructure more than elsewhere, the reality of poor snow years and a threat of eruptions, hence a not-for-profit model made more sense, Peter said.
“We say the philosophy of community-owned ski fields ploughing everything back into maintenance and keeping down lift fees. If these private companies are allowed to take over the ski fields, eventually skiing there could be limited to the rich.
“The Government have chosen their horse and put in a proposal.
“We, the ski community, have done the best we can and put in ours. Now it will be up to the creditors to vote.”
RSSA’s bid would see the ski fields continue to be run for three years by present voluntary administrators, Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC). PwC was best situated to get the mountain up and running for the forthcoming snow season, which starts next month, Peter said.
This would allow a seamless start to the season and provide time for a long-term solution, acceptable to both iwi and the skiers who had bank rolled RAL over the years with their life passes and debentures.
Meanwhile, all bidders have been wary of a requirement in the Tongariro National Park Management Plan demanding that redundant ski field facilities and structures be removed, and the land restored to as near its original state as possible.
Were skiing to end altogether (think climate change), the whole mountain would need to be restored, which could cost as much as $100 million, according to one estimate.
A statement from the office of the Minister of Regional Development, Kiri Allan, said the Government would cover the costs of this remediation on behalf of Whakapapa Holdings and Pure Tūroa, though it was not clear if this would be extended to RSSA.
The MP added that the Government would support writing off previous debts RAL owed to Kānoa and the Department of Conservation, but again, this appeared to apply only if Whakapapa Holdings and Pure Tūroa were the successful bidders.
Sam Clarkson, a spokesperson for RSSA, said it was unclear whether Ms Allan was referring to the removal of unused ski infrastructure now on the mountain, or the removal of all infrastructure, were the ski fields to cease operation one day.
“In any case, if it is good for the goose, it’s good for the gander; the same offer [debt cancelation and infrastructure removal costs] should be made to us as it has been to the private companies who have put in bids.
“Instead, what it seems they are choosing to do here is to give away public debt for free.
“Effectively, they seem to want to privatise the assets on Mt Ruapehu with no consultation. I mean, that’s just a scandal.
“In what world could they propose that our public ownership model would not receive the same conditions as those put forward by the corporates?”
Sam pointed out that if RAL’s debts were forgiven, by receiving the same deal which has been offered to Whakapapa Holdings and Pure Tūroa, it would no longer be insolvent.
“In that case PwC would have done its job, the administration would be over and no watershed meeting would be required,” he said.
He believed there would be a huge risk in seeking to transfer licences to operate, which are now held by RAL, to the new bidders.
If iwi, who were already angry over a lack of consultation in the process, were to object to this, they could hypothetically take legal action and prevent skiing on the mountain altogether, Sam said.
“But if we hand back running the company to the administrators and wipe out those debts, it will be business as usual and there won’t be any remediation required. The big clean up won’t have to happen.
“The licences needed to operate the ski fields would then remain in place.
“Our group could walk into the RAL office tomorrow morning and get on with the job, using all the existing certification – operating licences, supply contracts, certification for lifts and infrastructure, employment contracts and so forth.”
The watershed meeting will be open to RAL creditors only and if it follows the pattern of a similar meeting held last year, it will comprise simultaneous gatherings in Auckland, Wellington and at the Top of the Bruce at Whakapapa.
The trump cards could be held by iwi who have voiced frustration over being left out of the process so far.
Representatives of the Ruapehu/Whanganui hapū grouping Patuto-kotoko, which over the years has embraced Ngāti Hekeawai, Ruakopiri, Hinetaro, Atamira, Pare and later Uenuku, have written demanding officials consult with iwi before signing off new operators for the ski fields.
These groups could technically veto the right of a new entity to take over existing licences to operate. They have not ruled out legal action, leading one skier to say, “we may be only one rahui away from the cessation of all skiing on the mountain”.
‘Looks like we’ve been left out again’
Ngāti Uenuku chair Aiden Gilbert says given the lack of consultation, it is hard to define what the Department of Conservation had in mind when it agreed to manage Ruapehu in partnership with iwi.
“Since inception [of the partnership] in 1988, we have struggled to come up with a comparable partnership.
“If it’s a kind of marriage, it’s one where one partner does exactly as they wish without asking the other.
“Or if we’re like [joint] landlords of the mountain with DOC, it’s a situation where two new tenants have suddenly appeared whom we knew nothing of previously.
“We are said to be a partner with DOC but what does that look like? How does that fit in with all the decision making on the mountain?
“Another factor is that there is a [Tongariro] settlement coming up next month, one which is about 18 months overdue. So, it is obvious that this probably won’t happen before a decision is made.”
Aiden noted that there seemed to be huge pressure on the Government to make a decision before the winter ski season begins.
“If you’re in debt I guess you always like to see money rolling in somehow.
“Whereas we feel caught at the crossroads, trying to make a decision on whether we support it or not.
“All this is quite important in view of the fact there will be a 60-year lease in terms of concessions to operate.
“We’re saying, ‘well, it looks like we are sidelined again at this stage, but it would be nice to have a voice somewhere’.
“We are pondering it still, it’s a bit rushed, of course it is.”
He said weather patterns had been unusual for the past five years, with the effects of climate change affecting snow on the mountain, or lack of it.
“One still has to wonder as an investor, do you still want to invest in something like this that could be hit or miss in terms of the next season.
“And we have the last three years as good examples of what didn’t happen.”
