Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The government expects to miss its target of concluding negotiations with councils on buying out high-risk cyclone-hit property.
The government has been in discussion with local councils about the split of costs for funding the buyouts, and had been aiming to come to an agreement by the end of June.
Cyclone Recovery Minister Grant Robertson told reporters on Monday discussions were continuing.
"There's a lot of different factors we have to bear in mind, we still have to talk about things like valuation, we still have to talk about the process by which decisions will be finalised, who takes those decisions. And then obviously in terms of funding this is not the only area where there is co-funding, we've got co-funding around flood protection and so on. So the discussions are ongoing.
"We'd set ourselves a target of doing that by the end of June, I think it's fair to say we're unlikely to meet that date but that's simply because both ourselves and the councils want to get this right."
Robertson said he should be in a position to give an update on the discussions later this week.
"We'll certainly talk about it before the end of the week, but in the end this is a discussion between ourselves and local government. We're highly motivated to give those people certainty."
Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty also has responsibility for the cyclone response in Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa and Tararua, and said while he was not part of negotiations he was being briefed and was confident of reaching an agreement "pretty quick".
"I mean we've got to remember that Hawke's Bay is actually quite advanced, those councils worked incredibly quickly to get to the point they did, so quickly - no other council has got to that point yet.
"Those residents have had the reassurance that they will be bought out if they're in category 3, and those that are in category 2 know what they need to do to move into category 1."
The risk assessments are working on a category system the government developed, categorising properties as being able to be lived in (category 1), able to be lived in after additional flood protection or repair work (category 2), or too risky to rebuild (category 3).
"Councils are facing significant financial burdens as a result of the severe weather and we're willing to play our part to assist them with that, it's just a case of how much do we assist them by," McAnulty said.
