Otematata Township Facing A Lingering Death

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31584, 23 January 1968, Page 17

Otematata Township Facing A Lingering Death

(BY

A STAFF REPORTER)

The run-down of labour as the Aviemore hydro-electric scheme nears completion means slow extinction for the works town at Otematata. Shopkeepers are wondering what the future holds for them, and efforts to find a use for 900 houses and the amenities that go with them have, so far, come to nothing.

Established originally to house construction workers at the Benmore project, Otematata had a peak population of about 4500. Today, this has fallen to below 3000, and within a year or 18 months, it will be reduced to a handful of New Zealand Electricity Department staff attached to the power station.

Many of the shopkeepers had intended to move to the new construction village which will be established at the Twizel River, near Lake Pukaki. but. they say. a decision on future hydro-electric schemes in the Waitaki basin has been deferred as to make their position precarious. Otematata township has 12 shops, a bank, a T.A.B. agency and other business premises, owned by the Ministry of Works and leased to the tenants. “If we had an indication that an early start would be ; made on another hydro scheme on the Upper Waitaki, ■ most of our members would be prepared to stay at Otematata until they could move to the new construction town.” said the president of the Otematata Businessmens' Association (Mr D. R. Kennedy). “The Minister of Works (Mr Allen) told us about various . schemes, but nothing as to the ~ construction timetable. It <looks as though we are finished. Otematata is on a busy tourist route, but this means very little to the shops, which could not survive on tourists.” Mr G. Harris, the local chemist, is the association's Secretary. He said he had a good business, but had noted its decline with the fall in -Otematata’s population. ", “It's about 3000, now, and • when it drops to 2000 or so, ■7l will have to move on," he •aid. Mr Harris, like other businessmen, did not know where he would move to. He had

hoped to go to the new township. The same uncertainty faces about 40 employees in the various businesses. "Fifteen per cent of the houses here are empty now and the position is getting worse every day." said one shop worker. “There is no future for us here and it is just a question when we will have to go.” Motor Camp? Otematata’s future may lie in its possibilities as a tourist centre, and the Ministry of Works, loath, perhaps, to see an asset wasted, has made suggestions on the subject to the Waitaki County Council. “We have asked the council to take an academic look at the possibility of taking over part or all of the township for possible use as a motor camp, or for holiday homes.” said the ministry’s acting project engineer at Otematata (Mr J. A. S. Bailey). “This idea would be very hard to get off the ground." said the County Clerk (Mr G. R. Joll). “So far. the county chairman (Mr D. E. Neave) has discussed the scheme with the Commissioner of Crown Lands at Dunedin, as be would have the disposal of the land. “We can't estimate the market for holiday homes, nor have we a final answer from the ministry as to whether it would be leaving its sewerage and water pumping equlp- , ment.” Otematata is fully reticulated with sewers and high- . pressure water, and the council sees problems in taking over. “The sewerage and water systems are designed for a population of 5000, and if we

took over, they would need full-time supervision,” said Mr Joll. “People now living at Otematata want to stay on, and it would be ridiiculous to maintain the systems just (or them." Another problem, he said, was that the miles of roading in the township was not surveyed, and would require this before it could be dedicated as public road. The council received nothing in rates or grants instead of rates on the town ship or the construction buildings, as rates were not payable on construction camps, said Mr Joll. If the council did take over, it would be able to rate. An enthusiast for the retention of the town as a holiday centre is Mr M. D. Douglas, whose Lake Benmore Tourist Company has taken over the Benmore observation point as a tea-room and shop, and runs an 11-seater jet boat service on Lake Benmore. He is a former ski instructor, who was a member of Sir Edmund Hillary’s support party for the Antarctic crossing by Sir Vivian Fuchs. Mr Douglas sees an unlimited tourist potential in the area. “It would be unthinkable to let the township disappear, as it will, unless it is developed for tourists," he said. “The hotel looks after the overseas tourists, and there must be somewhere for the New Zealander to stay." Mr Douglas said that most of his business came from overseas tourists, chiefly Australians, for whom Otematata was an overnight stop. His bus-connection launch trips up Lake Benmore were very popular. Lake Benmore provided marvellous brown and rainbow trout fishing, and so would Lake Aviemore when it was filled. The Ministry of Works had laid out marinas and swimming spots round both lakes in anticipation of the growing demand for holiday activities.

Mr Douglas said the Waitaki County Council had not been helpful *ver his plan to lease land at Sailor’e Cutting, between Benmore dam and Omarama on the Ahariri arm of the lake. He wanted to develop the spot as a holiday centre. He was prepared for a sharp fall ia bar takings as the 1000-odd Aviemore work force went elsewhere, said Mr W. Ling, keeper of the Otematata Hotel. He said he was less worried on the house side, as the hotel catered extensively for overseas tourists. There were few nights when two bus-loads did not fill the hotel’s 80-plus beds. Mr Ling, toa, was enthusiastic about the district’s tourist potential, and said that the hotel had plans for a marina and launch trips on Lake Aviemore, which will come right to the back of the hotel. No decision has been made as to the future of the Otematata District High School or the junior schoel, which, at peak population had rolls totalling nearly 1000. Sixty pre-school children attended two play centres. With the rolls dropping fast, the day must come when the axe must fall. Residents think both schools will go, land that pupils from the Benmore permanent staff and other district families will go by bus to Kurow. 16 miles away. The photograph shows part of Otematata’s thriving shopping centre, now feeling the effects of the rundown of works staff.