The "Let’s Talk" page on the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s website gives the finish date for a pipeline to carry the waste as the "end of 2026", subject to a couple of procedural conditions.
But a council spokesperson, who did not want to be named, told the Wanaka Sun on Friday "the preferred option for this pipeline selected through the previous business case process has advanced through detailed design, with construction expected to commence mid-2025 and conclude by early 2028".
That is at least a year later than suggested in "Let’s Talk".
The "poo trucks" have already been running for two years since construction began at Longview, which could ultimately contain more than 2000 houses.
The council spokesman said the trucking was not a cost to the council.
"Whilst commercial sensitivity prevents us from publicly sharing the full agreement, we can confirm that it makes no provision for council to pay for the trucking at any point."
Truck movements amount to around four per day for two days a week and trucking is expected to continue until the waste pipeline is completed.
Mr Hocking said the 2028 completion date for the pipeline was "just what it is".
"I'm working with council to try and help expedite that; bring it forward where possible."
The government is contributing $24 million to the cost of the pipeline, and Mr Hocking noted the council’s recently adopted long-term plan showed most of the spend on the pipeline was in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 years.
On a side note, Mr Hocking said the public toilets next to Longview’s playground should be ready to use any day soon.
The reason they were not already open was to do with compliance checks, not the pipeline project.
