It plans to start work on installing the replacement Sugar Basin chairlift at The Remarkables skifield in Queenstown on January 20. But it needs resource consent from the Department of Conservation, from which it leases the Rastus Burn Recreation Reserve land for the skifield.
If and when that is obtained, it will need affected-party consent from Ngai Tahu and the Otago Regional Council, and building consent from the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
Sir John attended a hearing of submissions two weeks ago after Doc publicly notified the resource consent for the six-seater chairlift, revised ski trails and snow-making equipment.
At that point, getting consent in time to complete the work this summer appeared unlikely.
''All I can say is it is satisfactorily moving. We are hopeful we'll get consent in the not-too-distant future.
''I've had some communication from them.. and I hope that it will meet our deadlines.
Sir John said NZSki, a subsidiary of his company Trojan Holdings, had been in discussions with both affected parties and the QLDC.
''We've been talking to them about it to make sure they can process it as soon as possible. [QLDC has] been looking at it all the way through.''
That meant it could potentially avoid a '' worst-case scenario'' of the chairlift being kept in storage.
Some 104,000sq m of land will be disturbed by the works, and native species of flora will be replanted elsewhere.
That was one of the concerns about the environmental impact of the work raised at the hearing by botanist and University of Otago Emeritus Professor Sir Alan Mark and Forest & Bird Otago and Southland central regional manager Sue Maturin.
Ski area manager Ross Lawrence told the hearing the application had been revised to reduce the area modified by 33,000sq m. One proposed trail was reduced by 320m so no wetland would be disturbed.
The company was always seeking to improve the way it transferred vegetation and cared for the Rastus Burn Recreation Reserve as a whole.
The Sugar Basin revamp is part of $45million of works planned by NZSki in Queenstown this summer.
