The discovery of one of Dunedin’s oldest roads has come at a hefty price for the city's rate payers.
The 150 year old causeway was found during excavations for a 34 million dollar shopping development in the central city.
The council has decided to preserve the path, leaving rate payers to foot a bill of up to $500,000 dollars.
The causeway is thought to be up to 150 years old, and was the last thing the builders expected to find.
The council has decided to keep the ancient path on site. Covering it in protective glass and building the mall around it.
Preserving and displaying the causeway will cost up to half a million dollars. A price the historic places trust thinks is worth it. But the rate payers who will be footing the bill are not so sure.
Syd Adie says they were not even consulted.
“The Government wants us to do everything. Stadiums whatever at the cost of the ratepayers and its too hard for some of them who just can’t pay for everything,” says Syd Adie of the Ratepayers Association.
While it is an exciting time for archaeologists who were back at the site today, it has been a rather sticky situation for developers who are now three weeks behind schedule and hoping for no more surprises.
3 News