Consent granted for Chinese water bottling giant to purchase Otakiri Spring
Thursday, 14 June 2018
A proposal to expand the Otakiri Springs water bottling plant and ship more than a billion litres of NZ water to China has been granted final consent.
Cresswell NZ Limited, owned by Chinese water bottling giant Ngonfu Spring, applied to expand the existing water bottling operation at Otakiri Springs near Whakatane by up to 1.1 billion litres a year.
Independent commissioners Rob van Voorthuysen and Antoine Coffin were appointed to hear and determine the resource consent applications on behalf of Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Whakatāne District Council.
The application was approved.
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The news comes just one day after Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage and Associate Finance Minister David Clark granted an application under the Overseas Investment Act 2005 for Cresswell NZ Ltd to purchase land to expand the existing Otakiri Springs water bottling plant near Whakatane.
Granting the investment was dependant on Cresswell NZ gaining resource consent which it now has.
The news caused political problems for Green Party members with Marama Davidson facing a backlash for one of her ministers approving water bottling which the party campaigned against.
Some members threatened to quit over the decision.
Consents Manager Reuben Fraser says the application was publicly notified and went through a robust process.
'The consent process is about assessing the effects of the proposal. All relevant effects were considered including the capacity of the aquifer to sustain the take, cultural implications, and the positive effects of additional jobs,' Fraser said.
'The job of the commissioners was to review the proposal and all the supporting information in relation to the Resource Management Act and other planning documents, including the Regional Policy Statement and regional plans.
'Legally the commissioners cannot consider matters outside of this legislation like whether a royalty is being paid, the end location of the product or ethnicity of the parent company.'
The panel was satisfied any impact to the environment can be managed.
The consent means Creswell NZ Ltd can purchase a freehold and leasehold interest in approximately 6.2 ha of sensitive land at Otakiri.
Cresswell NZ proposes to expand the existing water bottling plant and invest more than $42.5 million over four years to upgrade the plant and establish two new bottling lines.
The expansion is projected to provide 32 jobs within two years and 60 within four years and if these jobs are not created an investigation can occur.
'This is a substantial increase on the current eight jobs at the plant and offers employment opportunities for the Whakatane community and Bay of Plenty region,' Clark said.
Submitters wishing to appeal the decision must lodge that appeal within 15 working days of receiving the decision.