Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says more than 5000 Crown-owned properties have now been cleared from the flat land residential red zones in greater Christchurch.

“Insurers and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) have now cleared 5133 of the 7030 properties on the flat land whose former owners have settled with the Crown – just over 73 per cent of the task,” Mr Brownlee says.

Of the remaining Crown-owned properties in the flat land residential red zones yet to be cleared, 538 have been tendered, awarded and/or scheduled for demolition/clearance by contractors on behalf of CERA.

CERA has received offers from interested third parties to relocate, refurbish and re-sell 343 of these properties, of which 217 have signed a relocation agreement.

There are also 434 properties that have been scheduled for clearance/demolition on behalf of insurers.

Mr Brownlee says current projections indicate clearance work on Crown-owned properties on the flat land will be close to completion by CERA’s original target of the end of this year.

“Some of the more complex clearances, such as multi-unit dwellings, may not be finished until early 2015, but progress on this project has really been very good,” Mr Brownlee says.

“Insurers and CERA are clearing between 70 and 100 properties a week, depending on weather, the size of the dwellings, heavy vehicle access and whether they contain hazardous materials.

“Properties containing asbestos take a little longer to clear as they must be handled with care and safely removed under strict safety guidelines.

“CERA set an early goal of clearing 300 properties a month and in June and July this year they oversaw the clearance of 317 and 236 respectively, so they’re doing pretty well,” Mr Brownlee says.

For more information on clearance work, visit www.cera.govt.nz/residential-red-zone/flat-land/property-clearances