This follows the Rotorua District Council’s unanimous decision at a council meeting on Monday, to increase its own funding for the project from $4m to 6.5m.

Trust Chairman Grahame Hall said the trust was absolutely committed to working with the council to make the events centre a reality. He said the council’s fundraising programme had been “hugely successful” with around 15 organisations already signed up to provide additional funding support.

“So I’m delighted that our own very strong financial position means we are able to increase our funding for this very important community facility. The Trust has had another very successful year and the community can share in those successes.”

“The Energy Events Centre is one of the most significant projects that Rotorua has ever had and it will serve the community for the next 40 or 50 years or more. We’re determined, in partnership with the Rotorua District Council, to make the facility one that every person in this community will feel proud of – and the rest of the country will view with considerable envy.

”One of the things we’re adamant about is avoiding cutting corners with this project, in terms of quality. The centre must meet our community expectations. It must be appropriate to achieve a sound economic return for Rotorua. And it must enhance our reputation as one of the country’s pre-eminent events destinations. We believe it will in fact fit the bill in all of these areas,” says Mr Hall.

Mayor Kevin Winters said the offer from Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust was incredible news and yet another outstanding example of The Trust helping to make this community one of the best equipped in the country. He said the whole community is grateful for the vision and leadership that the Trust brings Rotorua, and the council is also grateful for the very effective partnership in place between the two organisations.

“The trustees and our own councillors are well aware that building costs in New Zealand are increasing at a rate of knots never before seen in this country – currently nearly 1% every month. Those costs, and today’s very heavily committed construction market, have seen the overall price of the centre increase to $25.1m. However delaying construction is not an option as the costs will only escalate further. We need to get on and do the job – right now.

“And we certainly can proceed now. With the council’s $6.5m investment in the project, Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust’s contribution of $12.5m and our innovative ‘Partners Programme’ bringing confirmed commitments of around $4.4m so far, we already have $23.4m secured and are tantalisingly close to achieving the $25.1m needed to build the new events centre. It does mean we will still need to raise around $1.7m to reach our target, but we have every confidence we’ll get there safely as our local businesses and others in the community are continuing to embrace the project and support this exciting development,”  says Mayor Winters. 

Mr Winters said that the council’s share of the project represents only one quarter of the total project cost.

“On a national basis that is an incredibly low proportion of expense for a local authority on a major project like this. It shows the strength and community commitment of our funding partners that they can come up with three quarters of the cost of such an ambitious project. Rotorua is a very special community.”

Construction of the Energy Events Centre will commence shortly with a ‘ground breaking’ ceremony scheduled for Thursday next week [7 July], to acknowledge the start of the project.