Cardrona’s $15M wastewater treatment plant has been selected as a category finalist in this year’s Institute of Finance New Zealand (INFINZ) awards.

The plant’s construction and installation of sewerage pipelines has been overseen by Cardrona Valley Wastewater Limited, which is owned by Mt Cardrona Station, and its director Andrew Spencer said it was an honour for the project to be shortlisted for INFINZ’s Debt Deal of the Year award.

“The project has gone very well to date,” he said adding he believed it had been singled out for the award because it was a “rare” example of a successful private-public infrastructure venture providing a sustainable and much needed community benefit. 

Stage one of the treatment plant in the Cardrona Valley is on track for completion next month, with most of the pipework in place and only the high-tech plant systems to be installed before testing and commissioning can begin, he said.

The access road to Mt Cardrona Station Village is currently under construction opposite Tuohys Gully Road which leads up to the Snow Farm. PHOTO: Wanaka App

Testing of the plant and sewerage system involving Cardrona Valley households and businesses as well as the skifield will occur during winter. 

If all goes well the practical completion date, when the treatment plant will be vested in the Queenstown Lakes District Council to operate, is October 2021.

Winners of the INFINZ awards will be announced at a gala dinner in Auckland on May 18.

An artist’s impression of residential homes in the Mt Cardrona Station Village. PHOTO: Supplied.

The treatment plant is designed to service the whole of the Cardrona Valley and has the capacity to expand in further stages to cater for Cardrona’s future development over the next 30 years, including Mt Cardrona Station Village, Andrew said.

Under Plan Change 52, Mt Cardrona Station Ltd was granted consent three years ago to develop a village comprising up to 620 dwellings, a hotel and 12-hole golf course, on the terrace above the Cardrona Valley highway and adjacent to Cardrona Alpine Resort’s access road.

The village will be built in stages, Andrew said. Road access to it is already under construction and the first stage of 50 residential lots is set to be released on the market by the end of June. 

He said the first stage would include land and house packages and had already attracted significant interest off market.