"Mapua was New Zealand's worst contaminated site. This public meeting marks an important milestone in confirming the extent to which the clean up has been successful and to let the people of Mapua get on with their lives."
Dr Smith says the final audit report and the dilapidation report on the former Fruitgrowers Chemical Company site will be released at the Mapua Boat Club at 4.30pm. The meeting will be chaired by Tasman-West Coast MP Chris Auchinvole.
"I will be presenting the reports along with officials from the Ministry for the Environment, including the Chief Executive Dr Paul Reynolds.
"We will be available to answer residents' questions and provide details of how the Ministry is going to implement the site auditor's recommendations and provide on-going support to Tasman District Council in monitoring the site.
"The author of the site audit report will also be on hand to answer any technical queries and a representative of the Nelson-Marlborough District Health Board will be available to give an update on the status of the health report.
"This clean up has been a difficult saga particularly for the Mapua community. I want to be completely open with Mapua on how successful the clean up has been and what on-going monitoring will be required. I openly acknowledge that errors have been made and I am determined the Ministry will learn from these mistakes."
The reports will be available to the public at the start of the meeting.