Skiers have flocked to the Whakapapa slopes. Photo: RNZ / Tom Taylor
Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) is getting its fourth multimillion-dollar bailout within a year.
The government this week has agreed to give the company, which is in voluntary administration, an extra $7 million.
This was on top of the $5m loan announced in June, and $2m and $6m in November and December 2022 respectively.
PwC partner and co-administrator of RAL Richard Nacey told Morning Report the latest funding was needed to carry out essential maintenance and prepare the skifield for the 2024 season.
"We certainly need public funding to get through to the start of the next ski season.
"Then there are a couple of interested parties the government has been working with to run [the skifield] going forward, and we would hope that it will be in a position to stand on its own two feet again."
Nacey said the funding over the past year had been necessary, because when the company went into liquidation in November 2022, there was "no cash in the bank".
"We needed to work over summer to prepare the mountain for winter 2023 and that was relatively expensive.
"We've now got through winter - and that was a relatively good season - but we didn't have that cash buffer that we would expect to start with, which has put us behind.
"So we do need that additional cash to carry out summer maintenance and allow us, or the new operators, to open for 2024."
Nacey defended the number of government bailouts required to keep the skifield running since the administrators took over last November.
"The reality is that it is a relatively expensive mountain to prepare for winter, and it has suffered from three very poor seasons before our appointment, so there's been a lot of deferred maintenance that we've needed to remedy.
"We started with no cash in the bank, whereas in a normal season there would be $9-$10m at the end of the season."
The new funding boost would give "a bit of time" past the election for a new government to understand the issues and make a decision about the way forward, Nacey said.
It was possible for the skifield to come out of voluntary administration, he said.
"If we can get operators before the start of the 2024 season and if they are appropriately capitalised, then there's no reason why it can't stand on its own two feet.
"It's a company that's been going for a very long time and I would hope that it can continue to do that in the future."