Hon Gerry Brownlee
Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery

30 July 2012 Media Statement

New unit will facilitate CBD investment

Invest Christchurch is a new investment facilitation service operating within the Christchurch Central Development Unit (CCDU) of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA).

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the unit’s initial focus will be the local and national investor, business and development communities, with an international investment marketing campaign set to be launched in the fourth quarter of this year.

“Invest Christchurch will be professionally staffed by a team of investment facilitators with backgrounds in finance, investment, property development and government administration,” Mr Brownlee says.

The service will start small and grow based on investor demand. It will facilitate investment proposals in a number of ways. These include:

• Providing comprehensive one-on-one briefings on the detail of the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan and the opportunities for the private sector it creates
• Working with potential investors to identify opportunities in Christchurch that might support their investment mandates and strategies
• Providing relevant information on the seismic and geotechnical characteristics of central city blocks of interest to investors, and associated building requirements
• Facilitating relationships between existing land owners and investors, and interested investors, businesses and developers
• Exploring and promoting private sector investment in the New Zealand Government and Christchurch City Council’s central city anchor projects
• Streamlining land acquisition processes for projects under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011
• Removing bureaucratic roadblocks for investors and facilitating relevant consent processes

“Invest Christchurch is required to assign an initial investment facilitator to all interested investors, businesses and developers within 24 hours of them making contact,” Mr Brownlee says.

“The service is open for business today and the team looks forward to getting down to work with the parties that will ultimately make the new Christchurch successful.”

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