Forestry company’s $3m bill wiped

A forestry company has had a NZ$2.89 million debt set aside by the NZ High Court after failing to harvest on deadline for a contract written on bad advice from the Marlborough District Council. Zindia Limited signed the contract in 2016, to harvest pine trees on Arapaoa Island, previously known as Arapawa Island, between Tory Channel/Kura Te Au and Cook Strait in the Marlborough Sounds.

The trees were owned by Arapawa Island Forestry Partnership, which leased the steep, difficult property and planted the trees in 1986. The lease expired on August 31, 2020. The trees matured by 2009, but one harvester backed out of the difficult job so before contracting Zindia, the partnership gained consents to get the forest “harvest-ready” when log prices improved in 2016. That did not include resource consent to harvest, the High Court decision issued last week said.

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Source: Stuff