A major funding announcement has revealed that $4.8 billion will be invested in Christchurch's rebuild - $2.9b from the Crown and $1.9b from the city council.
The Crown and the Christchurch City Council said they had reached an agreement today on the cost-sharing arrangement for anchor projects in the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan and the repair and replacement of the city's essential horizontal infrastructure.
Among the costings revealed are the convention centre, the stadium and the performing arts centre.
Speaking in central Christchurch today, Prime Minister John Key said the announcement was a "milestone" for Christchurch's recovery and rebuild.
Key, addressing city councillors, business leaders and Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority representatives, said the cost-sharing agreement between the Crown and the council provided "certainity" for the city.
Much of the work to repair the city's horizontal infrastructure had been under way, but today's agreement allowed authorities to move forward faster.
Negotiations for the agreement had involved senior officials, rather than politicians, and "were not rushed".
Key said the agreement represented the council's priorities in its long-term plan and the Crown's priorities. "I get a strong sense of optimism in Christchurch today."
This is great news for Christchurch, and is an important part of returning the city to some sort of normality. The heart was ripped out of Christchurch's CBD, but that is steadily changing as demolitions give way to rebuilding.
Bob Parker is especially happy; read on:
Mayor Bob Parker said having the cost-sharing agreement finalised was "absolutely crucial" for the city.
"I want to thank my earthquake buddy, minister Gerry [Brownlee], because at the end of the day he had to take this back to Cabinet and fight for his city. I thank your Cabinet colleagues for putting their support behind the city."
He praised city councillors for their work since the quakes. "We've stood together. I'm sure that's made the negotiations on both sides much easier, having that clarity."
The Government had taken on responsibility for the city's new convention centre.
"I think they're incredibly bold and brave. I congratulate them for taking that step on behalf of our city. It is a massive commitment to Christchurch," he said.
The council would be sharing the new stadium project with the Government, while the town hall and performing arts precinct was under the responsibility of the council.
"Wherever you look around Christchurch ... you can see the work that will come out of the work we've done in this negotiation. It's been very challenging at times," Parker said.
"What today is about is a milestone day. We really step into our future now with some real certainty."
"The city, I think, comes out of this very, very well."
Today's announcement will certainly be a boost to Parker in terms of his aspirations for a third term as the city's mayor. We're sure that his reference to Gerry Brownlee as his "earthquake buddy" was not accidental.
Here's a graphic of today's announcement, with the cost shares:
The Christchurch rebuild is going to suck up many more billions of taxpayer dollars yet. John Key also announced progress today on residential repairs, and around half of the 80,000 homes requiring repair have now been completed.
It's great to see progress in Christchurch both on the big-ticket items, and on fixing broken homes. We are visiting family down there in a couple of weeks, and will be staying in their freshly repaired house.
The workload is immense. Gerry Brownlee has advised today that some sixty full house repairs are being finalised each day on average, or 1800 per month. Around 5000 tradesmen representing 1300 contracting firms are involved in work on homes.
New Zealand has never seen a repair and rebuild project of this magnitude. But it is heartening to see that good progress is being made, both on home repairs and on the CBD rebuild.
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