Tepaki Group responds to Pa’s lawyer

Referring to the CI News article on the Hilton project on Wednesday 25 February 2009, Tepaki Group spokesman Sonny Williams said people looking for work on the project have contacted their office seeking clarification on lawyer Tim Arnold’s comments in the press, which seemed to suggest the project is not going ahead. Quite the contrary he said, as Tim Tepaki is currently working with financiers who have approached him about funding the project and aim is to have the funds ready by end of April, in time for confirmation of project by 20 May.
Williams said it is true that Pa Ariki and her lawyer Tim Arnold are working directly with the group’s New Zealand financiers, as that line of communication was established last year and announced publicly by Tim Tepaki when he wanted to step back and focus on Tepaki Group matters, but it does not mean he is walking away from the project.
On the confusion on commercial structure that have arisen following the article by CI News, Williams said it is quite simple; the financier provides funds for deployment by the developer secured by assets assigned to the financier by the developer, so the $30,000 odd deployed by the financier to Pa Ariki each month is in fact deployed from the JVCI development account, as were the funds employed for processing the EIA approval.
Williams also said that re-scoping the Hilton development to incorporate villas was a Tepaki Group initiative aimed at achieving a Polynesian look to the development and staging the development was another group initiative aimed at managing development risk. But the funding being packaged right now is for total project funding and on the basis that Tepaki Group will go it alone on the development.
On the question of delays, Williams said it was unfortunate that EIA consent could not be delivered by end of November last as programmed, but some objections were tabled with NES last minute and that deferred the processing of approval to this year, with EIA consent only uplifted earlier this month. The delay on EIA consent has delayed the packaging and submission of funding but that’s life said Williams.

Headlines : Times 290 02 March 2009
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