Design work to prepare a 1.2ha subdivision application that would redevelop the Lake Tekapo foreshore has begun, and building work could start by the end of the year - if cost estimates come in on budget.
About three months ago, the Mackenzie District Council agreed to put aside about $200,000 to prepare a subdivision consent for a ''self-funding'' project to redevelop a section of land between the retail centre and the lake edge, and council chief executive Wayne Barnett said this week engineering design work needed for the subdivision application had already started.
Mr Barnett said the design work would be done in accordance with the district plan, but at this stage there was no date for completion of that work.
''We have started winding the handle and working through those design aspects. What needs to happen is the design needs to be completed so that we know the costs associated with the development to get to a subdivision standard are within the expectations from the costs estimates.''
If costs were ''in line'' with estimates, the council would be a position to ''confirm the deal'', he said.
Subdivision work on the three-stage project, which would be funded by sales of debt-free council-owned land, was expected to start by the end of 2013.
Initial land sales were expected to provide the council with $1 million of net revenue over the following 12 months.
