The horizontal infrastructure rebuild was one of the most risk-prone recovery programmes in the Christchurch recovery effort. The following guidelines, which can be read alongside Disaster recovery: Guidelines for finance managers, are based on the reflections of CERA's horizontal infrastructure staff and may apply to future high-cost, high-risk recovery programmes.
On 27 June 2013 a $4.8 billion cost-sharing deal between the Christchurch City Council and the Crown was announced. The agreement covered the rebuilding of Christchurch's earthquake-damaged infrastructure and key anchor projects in the central city.
The deal was a significant milestone, giving certainty to residents, developers, business and investors around funding and allowing the rebuild to ramp up.
The most costly disruptions always happen when something we take for granted stops working. Rebuilding Christchurch's sewers involves balancing the demands of time and money against future-proofing the system.