Emergency quake law to push landslide debris into the sea
Planning is still under way on the best way to restore SH1 and the railway line that ran alongside it.
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The government will introduce three emergency pieces of legislation this week to over-ride normal environmental and planning law in favour of quickly restoring infrastructure damaged in the Kaikoura earthquake.
The one-off laws will permit landslide debris covering the coastal SH1 to be pushed into the sea and early dredging of Kaikoura harbour, where boats are trapped following the seafloor rise caused by the 7.8 magnitude quake just after midnight on November 14.
The quake severed the road and rail links north and south of the seaside town creating chaos for land freight and travellers between the North and South Islands.
While there may be some objections to pushing more debris into the sea than the quakes have already deposited, "mother nature has already done a fair bit of that," Prime Minister John Key told his weekly post-Cabinet press conference.
The government will act "carefully and with consultation" as it moves ahead, but it is "not practical" to consider removing all the spill of the quake landslip debris to other locations.
"If the resolution is to have the road in the same place, then we are going to have to remove that material one way or the other."
Planning is still under way on the best way to restore SH1 and the railway line that ran alongside it and could include using reclaimed land created by landslide deposits to become the base for a new road.
However, if that decision is made, it will need further new legislation, Mr Key says.
Two new pieces of law will be introduced to Parliament tomorrow for immediate passage without select committee consideration, while a third law governing how the first two will interact with existing legislation will be introduced on Thursday for a one-week select committee consultation.
Asked about the potential for destruction of native species habitats beyond those already destroyed by the earthquake, Mr Key says, "That's the area of concern."
The emergency legislation will have sunset clauses. It will be unwise to leave such legislation in place permanently since every natural disaster has its own characteristics and there will be concerns that such laws could be misused in future.
(BusinessDesk)
Pattrick Smellie
Mon, 28 Nov 2016
Mon, 28 Nov 2016
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
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Emergency quake law to push landslide debris into the sea
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