An ambitious project to build a $170 million tunnel linking Queenstown and Milford Sound is "making progress", according to its developers.
Milford Dart managing director Tom Elworthy said yesterday the Department of Conservation had agreed the company's concession application could continue to be processed.
He was pleased the Department of Conservation (Doc) was prepared to let the project have a fair hearing.
"They're prepared to keep moving it forward and let it run through the public process ... that's all we've ever asked.
"There's no doubts there are some differing views . . . but tourism in New Zealand isn't going to get any easier in the next few years.
"The Dart Passage will be one of the largest tourism infrastructure investments the country has seen in decades."
The a single-lane, 10km tunnel, which would run between the Routeburn and Hollyford Valleys under two national parks, would halve the return travel time between Queenstown and Milford Sound of about 10 hours.
Since launching its proposal almost three years ago, Milford Dart had been involved in "lengthy" Doc process, commissioning extensive reports on all environmental aspects of the project.
Mr Elworthy told the Otago Daily Times the company had spent a "significant sum" to date on the proposal. But that was no guarantee the tunnel would proceed.
Doc would now review Milford Dart's application and decide if it would allow the proposal to proceed to a public notification, submission and hearing process.
"It's a 50-50 call [whether it gets to that stage]."
If the tunnel did happen, "all things going well" it may be operational by 2012, with a construction price tag of about $170 million, Mr Elworthy said.
