A decision on whether Christchurch will be able to host Rugby World Cup games could be made as early as next week, Murray McCully says.
The Rugby World Cup Minister is today expecting an initial engineering report on how much damage AMI Stadium sustained in last month's earthquake, but could yet require further information.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) has the final say on whether five pool matches and two quarterfinals scheduled to take place at the stadium will go ahead.
The grounds at the stadium are bulging from liquefaction from the quake, silt has piled up in some places and there may be structural damage.
Britain's Telegraph newspaper reported this week that there was "a growing sense that the IRB will have no choice but to take matches elsewhere".
Mr McCully today dismissed that report.
"It doesn't seem like an accurate view to me," he told Radio New Zealand.
"I've been the person talking to the IRB, and the IRB have said that they want to deal with facts here, that they want to see reports from professional engineers and others."
Engineers had been busy compiling their report for a number of days now, but further information may still be required.
"The bottom line is if the stadium is not fixable in the time we've got then we clearly don't have a conversation we can have," Mr McCully said.
"If there is some possibility that the stadium can be made right in time then obviously a whole range of other issues become important -- availability of hotels and key infrastructure and so on."
Mr McCully said he was hoping the issues would be crystallised and a decision made by the end of next week, but the stadium remained the key issue.
"I've visited there myself. What's clear is that there is significant damage to the ground, to the pitch. There's clearly also some damage to the stadium buildings."
Mr McCully said he was "a little frustrated" that he had not received more information on the accommodation issue.
"We don't yet have as much information as I've been asking for, so we've tried to ratchet up the pressure to get more information in a more timely fashion," he said.
There was not enough accommodation to meet demand before the quake and the challenge ahead was now much bigger.
The IRB would makes its decision based on professional engineering reports and advice on hotel accommodation availability.
"It's an event which the IRB takes a lot of pride in," Mr McCully said.
"The point they've made to me is that this is a partnership. We need each other to make anything work on an event like this.
"That's been the way it has been from the beginning, so I think we'll share the burdens to some extent of dealing with the information that comes forward."
