Potaka is still awaiting advice from the Department of Conservation (DOC) on long-term options for the Chateau and said no decision has been made.

DOC officials had briefed Potaka that “several parties were interested” in restoring the hotel “without Government funding assistance” prior to the launch of the RFP.

“In their returns, they noted that the cost of restoration and strengthening made a longer lease term necessary than is legally possible under the Conservation Act 1987 to make the restoration viable,” DOC told Potaka in December.

Officials provided advice to the minister in response to a petition from the area’s local council, spearheaded by Mayor Weston Kirton, calling for the hotel to be “saved”.

The Government’s official response to the petition noted all options remained on the table, although this was prior to the request for proposals announced the following month.

The full petition included a 22-page written submission from Ruapehu District Council, which stated the Chateau had supplied about 30% of the district’s commercial visitor beds at its peak.

The council also cited an economic study which found Chateau Tongariro accounted for around 10% of Ruapehu’s tourism-based GDP and about 9% of its jobs.

Petitioners labelled the project “low-hanging fruit” due to the stated benefits.

In documents, obtained by Newstalk ZB under the Official Information Act, DOC noted the minister had requested the Request for Proposals (RFP) test whether “strengthening and restoration is viable with a maximum lease term of 60 years and without Government funding assistance”.

DOC had also been considering the possibility that no party found restoration commercially viable, although further details on that were redacted.

Further in the briefing, officials said there was a possibility the terms of the RFP were “not viable for investors” because of the lease term available or the cost of strengthening and restoration.

The department also noted the importance of working with iwi on a viable solution and advised the minister it was “engaging in good faith” with Treaty partners and affected Māori organisations.

The Department of Conservation met with Te Korowai o Wainuiārua, Ngāti Rani, Te Patutokotko and Ngāti Hāua in mid-February to “understand their views” on the site.

Another memo sent to Potaka in late February on iwi engagement was significantly redacted but stated iwi and hapū views around the Chateau were “relatively aligned”.

“There is a risk that any process to select a long term leasee for the Chateau may be viewed as pre-emptive to settlement negotiations,” Potaka was told.

A separate memo stated iwi believed the Te Awa Tupua settlement obligations were relevant to the site. The historic agreement granted legal personhood to the nearby Whanganui River in 2017.

“The future development of the Chateau will have direct and indirect impacts on the catchment of Te Awa Tupua, given the significance of the operations in the scheme of the Whakapapa Wastewater Plant,” officials said.

“We will offer to bring iwi leadership together to chart a path for further consideration of interests and activities in Whakapapa Village, as well as discussing wider Tongariro Park matters,” they added, noting a “durable path forward” would require iwi partnership.

Responding to the information in the documents, Ruapehu District Mayor Weston Kirton said he was hoping the Government can “help join all the dots”.

“It’s important we take iwi and hapu along on that journey. It’s obviously significant, in terms of culture from their perspective - that has to be respected,” Kirton said

The mayor said the Chateau was “only a hub of what can be put in place there” and some were in favour of a “village-type concept” with further investment and new retail offerings in the area.

Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament’s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2022 and became a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and government spending.