Prime Minister Christopher Luxon heaps praise on Waka Kotahi contractors as Coromandel's State Highway 25A to reopen

Christopher Luxon on AM.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is paying tribute to NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) contractors working on a key holiday route damaged during severe weather earlier this year. 

The agency announced last month Coromandel's State Highway 25A would reopen in December, three months ahead of schedule. 

Friday is the official unveiling of the route before its expected reopening on Wednesday. 

Luxon, who's heading to the site on Friday, highlighted the "incredible job" those working on the route have undertaken. 

"That just means there'll be lots more tourism in the Coromandel which they desperately need after three years of doing it pretty tough there," Luxon told AM. "It's fantastic." 

Luxon said the nine-month turnaround showed infrastructure could be built quicker in New Zealand. 

"That's what's quite exciting because I went and spent half a day there nine months ago and actually challenged the teams really hard: 'What would it take? Do we work 24/7? Do we need different resource consenting to speed up approvals?'" 

Luxon, speaking to AM host Ryan Bridge for the final time this year, said it was a "really difficult situation" in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle. 

"There were lots of different technical and engineering solutions to how you solve the problem given the slip that had happened there, and the teams have just done an incredibly good job - so I think we should be really proud and positive and celebrating great engineering feats like this, because it proves that we can do it in New Zealand, right?" 

Earlier this week, Tairua business owner Maree Smith told AM the road reopening would be "life-changing". 

"We are ready to party," she said. "I've taken on extra staff, we'll be open seven days a week, from the time everyone is out for their coffees at 8am and we will stay open until the last person leaves."  

Waka Kotahi expected the road to be busy when it reopened next week and reminded motorists it was still an active worksite. Traffic management and temporary speed limits would be in place, it said.