Tepaki’s $48 million plan

On Thursday morning at Tepaki Group Headquarters in Arorangi, developer Tim Tepaki made several major announcements in relation to the Vaimaanga project.
A team of consultants from New Zealand and Australia have arrived to carry out a costing of the project.
They consist of architects (Peddle, Thorpe & Montgomery), interior designers (HBO+EMTB – Australia), quantity surveyors (Rider Hunt) and engineers (BECA Hollings and Furnier Ltd).
Del Hogg, of Hogg DG Consultancy, is the project manager for the joint venture. They will return to NZ on Saturday to continue their work which could take up until March 2007.
Builders, Fletcher Construction South Pacific, arrive next Tuesday for discussions and construction is on target to start in June 2007.
According to the engineers, all structures on site are sound and all concrete walls and frames are in sound condition.
COSTS
Tepaki estimates construction costs alone to be around $48 million. 20% of this is expected to be for labour and 80% for materials.
Tepaki expects a large number of Cook Islands builders to return from overseas to work on the project. As much as possible of the construction work will go to locals.
Local landscape architect Gerald Garnier has come on board and the interior decorators have met with some local artists over artworks for the Hotel’s interior.
Local materials will be used as much as possible. For instance, Kikau thatching is to be used for the roofing. This will be supplied by the outer islands thus providing employment and an economic return.
When the resort is completed, Tepaki expects outer islands to grow and supply much of the vegetables and fruits required for the resort. This will also mean utilising local shipping.
VALUED
The 22-acre site as is, is valued at about $10 million.
There will be a state of the art sewerage treatment plant costing $1 million installed. The treated water will be safe enough to swim in but not drink.
No effluent will leave the site but local farmers will be able to access the treated substance for fertiliser.
The road around the hotel and a bridge will be completed at a cost of $1 million. This will be paid for by Tepaki group as apparently Government do not have the funds available.
The final plan shows a number of changes including new buildings to be added. There will now be no disruption to the beachfront. It will remain as is to preserve current services such as water piping and phone and power cables.
Tepaki announced there had a very positive briefing with Hilton by the architects. In fact he signed a heads of agreement with the Hilton group in Sydney two days earlier.
Hilton are looking for a fully integrated resort. They want to create as many good experiences as possible with bars and restaurants.
Hilton’s interest is that the developer meets Hilton’s philosophy. They want the resort to be the best in the Cook Islands, oriented to families with a minimum stay of seven days and be aimed at the Australian and NZ market.
Discussions with Hilton over a management agreement will be finalised over the next two weeks.
RETURN
With the project team in place and working well, Tepaki is returning to New Zealand to focus on business interests there.
Tepaki sees the resort and his other initiatives as the key to kick starting the move to reverse the depopulation trend. A wide range of good jobs will become available and most importantly, at NZ type of pay rates.
“The only way to get them back,” Tepaki said, “is to let them earn NZ wages.”
“If we truly want to rebuild our country we have to do that,” Tepaki added.
“The NZ dole is too high. I blame Helen Clark. Print that!” said Tepaki, who added, “I love a good scrap!”

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