Prime Minister John Key says the Government hopes to finish all negotiations with landowners whose property is affected by the newly-released blueprint of Christchurch by the start of next year.
Under the blueprint for the city's earthquake-damaged central business district unveiled by Mr Key on Monday, 840 properties will be affected.
Many will need to be compulsorily acquired by the Government.
Mr Key says the Government would like those acquisitions completed by the end of this year or by the first quarter of 2013 so the framework can be put in place.
He says the Government doesn't want to put a gun to landowners' heads and he hopes most of the acquisitions can be resolved through negotiation.
Mr Key also says the rebuild of the central city cannot wait for decisions to be made on the fate of some quake-damaged homes.
He says the Government has already made big steps forward in the rebuild and is working to speed up the process for individual homeowners.
Homeowners angered
However, some residents say they are angry the CBD blueprint has been developed in 100 days, when they have been waiting for nearly two years for a decision on repairs to their homes.
A member of a group called TC3 Residents, Tina Dudley, says the Government needs to place greater priority on helping residents who want to move forward with repairs to their homes.
TC3 Residents comprises more than 1000 members, all of whom are all waiting to find out if their land is safe enough to warrant repairing their homes.
Ms Dudley says she doesn't want to have anything to do with the central business district until her home is fixed.
Greens call for quake levy
The Green Party says the rebuild should be funded through an earthquake levy, to ensure the city's assets are not sold to pay for it.
Green Party Christchurch spokesperson Eugenie Sage says the Government needs to ensure the blueprint is affordable without putting pressure on the council to sell well-performing assets.
She says a quake levy would be the fairest way of funding projects.
The Government says it will take responsibility for projects such as the hospital redevelopment, but civic assets such as the stadium and convention centre will have to be funded between the Christchurch City Council and the private sector.
