A major Canterbury construction company says Treasury's predictions of work to rebuild Christchurch getting underway in earnest by the second half of next year may be overly optimistic.
In its pre-election economic and fiscal update, Treasury says the investment in the rebuilding effort won't now start until the second half of 2012, a delay of six to nine months compared to earlier Treasury predictions.
Leighs Construction managing director Anthony Leighs says uncertainty about the new City Plan, the insurance market and the continuing aftershocks are all delaying the rebuilding.
Mr Leighs says the second half of next year will be the earliest he would expect to see widespread work underway, and it may even be later than that.
A major Christchurch property owner is calling for the Government to step in to offer insurance to get the work started, in light of Treasury's new forecast.
Anthony Gough, who owns several central Christchurch sites, says insurance companies are still wary of covering the rebuilding, and things cannot progress until that is sorted.