Invercargill’s inner city upgrade could be one step closer to receiving the funding that is needed to complete the project after being shortlisted as one of the "shovel ready" projects to receive government support. 

More than 1900 projects nationwide were submitted to the Infrastructure Reference Group, this has now been whittled down to 802 applications that are now being reviewed by the Minister of Economic Development and the Minister of Regional Economic Development.

The Invercargill City Council applied for a total of $83 million in funding from the government for the re-development of the city centre, which comprises of $33 million in grant money and $50 million as a commercial loan from Crown Infrastructure Partners. 

A spokesperson for the ICC said the $83 million was not limited to the City Block project and would also be put towards “other works to help with the re-vitalisation of our inner city.”

However, if approved, this funding would cover the $16 million shortfall needed to complete the City Block project. The shortfall was created after one of its key investors pulled out following the first consultation process. 

The council is currently asking the community for feedback on whether it should invest extra money into city block to see the project through, as "no other funders have been found to meet this shortfall". 

As at 8am on Wednesday, the ICC had already received 201 responses via its online survey. Consultation closes on June 12; council will then deliberate and plans to come to a decision by late June.

Invercargill City Council Chief Executive Clare Hadley said she was "delighted" four out of the five projects the council submitted had been shortlisted.

These include: the Invercargill Flood Protection and Stopbank programme at a total cost $22.7 million, the Security of Invercargill and Bluff Water Supply Programme which has a $15.8 million price tag and finally the Invercargill Civic Building Renewal Programme which has a total cost of $15.6 million.

Phase one of the Bluff Masterplan, which has a total cost of $11.7 million was the only ICC project not to be shortlisted however, Ms Hadley said it had been put forward for consideration under the Provincial Growth Fund.

Meanwhile, the Gore District Council Council has been informed that just two of the 10 projects it submitted under the ‘shovel ready’ scheme have made the short-list.

These are two of the largest projects – the Gore and Mataura Water Treatment project at a total cost of $23 million and Manaaki Eco-Village which costs $10 million. 

Chief executive Steve Parry said the council was happy and cautiously optimistic to have these worthy projects go forward for Government support but he was "mildly disappointed that some of [it's] smaller projects did not make the cut," such as the Gore Library upgrade and the Matai Ridge subdivision.

However, he remains "hopeful" that some of the smaller projects might be taken on board by the Provincial Growth Fund. 

Southland District Council chief executive Steve Ruru said he was pleased that four of the nine projects that were submitted for funding have progressed to the next stage.

These are the Monowai bridge replacement, the Te Anau wastewater membrane filter, drinking water reticulation renewals and stormwater renewal works.

The Ministers are expected to decide which shovel ready projects have been successful in the coming weeks.