Tokomaru Bay landowner fumes at $14.5m council bridge pitch

A Tokomaru Bay landowner with limited access to its property since Cyclone Gabrielle took out a bridge is fuming at an unrealistic Gisborne District Council pitch for a $14.5 million replacement.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has refused to fund the project. The Pourau Incorporation has now put up a $3.8m alternative and is demanding to see the council engineering reports.

First erected in the 1930s, woody debris swept away the Pauariki Bridge in February 2023.

For three years kai mahi at Māori landowner - Pourau Incorporation - and local orchardists - the Mackenzie family - have had to ford the Hikuwai River or use a flying fox to bring in supplies. Pourau chair Philip Hope said at times getting to the property was perilous.

"Access for the Mackenzie whānau became very difficult, very dangerous because you're at the whim of the weather. Some years you haven't been able to cross the Hikuwai River more than 60 days of the year."

Hope was still in the dark about the Gisborne District Council's replacement proposal.

"We've never been consulted about the business case so much as the finalised design nor the price and to date we are still struggling to really understand how they came up with a figure of $14.5m."

Hope said the incorporation, which operated over two farm stations affected by the lack of a bridge, had since commissioned its own design, which came in at $3.8m - although he admitted that didn't include groundworks.

Rob Mackenzie had run a small orchard and honey operation in the area with his wife Anne for about 30 years. He said losing the bridge was a nuisance.

"It's more of a restriction than a danger because we are very careful about when we cross. You know there are times when it would be absolutely suicidal, like, there's times when that river is 10 or 15 metres deep.

"It's just very limiting. It means for instance that Anne, my wife, can't just jump in the car and go down to the Four Square or go to a tangi or whatever. We have to arrange things and go together."

It had also meant extended family of the couple - who were in their 70s - had had to leave.

"We did have three school aged kids here for a bit, but I mean there were times when we just couldn't get them to school.

"And when we could get them to school you couldn't sort of let them just jump off the bus at the end of the road and walk home, which is what my kids used to do. It's sort of a mile - or bike home - because they've got to go through a river.

"So, that means there's got to be someone there night and morning to get them across."

Mackenzie would like to sit down with the council - who he said had once promised a replacement bridge - and work something out.

Federated Farmers board member Mark Hooper said the issue of rural bridges not being replaced was something it was watching.

"The major concern for farmers about council performance was around access, so that includes the roads, maintenance and of course where there is a critical bridge that becomes a vital access route.

"It can have really significant economic implications and where access is potentially lost or limited then viability becomes a significant issue for some farms."

In a statement, NZTA said it funded the replacement of East Coast bridges damaged during Cyclone Gabrielle at up to 100 percent.

"In December 2024 [we] approved funding for the investigation, design and professional services regarding the possible co-funding arrangement for the Pauariki Bridge.

"We received the final requested documentation from Gisborne District Council in late March 2026 after subsequent consideration the application for funding was declined."

NZTA said it understood the outcomes of its uneconomic roading policy could be disappointing for those affected, but that such decisions were not taken lightly.

The Gisborne District Council said it couldn't comment on Pauariki Bridge due to the confidential nature of ongoing confidential negotiations with landowners.