The Queenstown Lakes District Council is hastily reworking its 10-year plan to take account of an expected fall in contributions from developers hit by the global financial crisis.
The council's finance controller, Stuart Burns, says says a leaner plan is on the cards to try to stem nearly $400 million of public debt expected over the next decade.
Financial commentator Bernard Hickey says Queenstown could take 20 years to recover from the global crisis as money lenders may be wary of the resort.
Mr Hickey says the collapse of the $1 billion Kawarau Falls and Five Mile developments left a bitter taste in the financial community and it may be decades before developments of that nature are considered again for Queenstown.
Speculation in apartments will plummet because capital gains will be almost non- existent for many years, he believes.
