The long-awaited Porirua Adventure Park project is overcoming the Covid-19-inflicted jitters plaguing the tourism sector, and is back on track after attracting fresh capital.
But with $16 million needed to fully finance the $32m project, ‘mum and dad' investors could be used to help make the park – which was expected to create 200 jobs and pump $40m into the local economy in its first five years of operation – a reality, Stuff can reveal.
The project would see Porirua become home to the country’s fifth gondola with 26 cabins ferrying people along the 290-metre journey over Te Rahui o Rangituhi (Colonial Knob), with a restaurant at the top.
As well as sightseeing, mountain biking and hiking trails, the longest dual zipline in the Southern Hemisphere (at 1.4 kilometres) will also be built. It was hoped the 12-month construction process would begin early next year, ahead of its opening in 2023.