A planned NZ$7.5 billion (US$4.73bn) Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center development in New Zealand has quietly stalled.

Local publication Newsroom reports that work has stopped on the first of three promised Auckland data centers, and the company will not meet its planned 2024 launch date.

AWS cleared 3.9 hectares of land for the data center and drained two small artificial wetlands, but the property remains empty with no signs of work. A small fire broke out at the construction site on January 31, but no details are public.

The company's resource consent application was paused in September 2023 over issues with its stormwater design, and little progress appears to have been made.

Local water regulator Taumata Arowai took over oversight for wastewater and stormwaters in October, and in a briefing seen by Newsroom warned of droughts and issues with the country’s ageing wastewater treatment infrastructure.

Amazon first lodged the resource consent application in March 2020, and announced the three data centers a year later. It declined to comment on the status of the project, but said that it was still planning to open a cloud region in New Zealand.

DCD has asked for further comment.

Update: An AWS spokesperson told DCD in a statement: "We are committed to launching an AWS Region in New Zealand to support growing demand from customers. Our NZ$7.5 billion investment in world-leading cloud infrastructure will democratize access to technologies such as AI and act as a catalyst to accelerate innovation, drive productivity, fuel economic growth, and level the playing field for New Zealand organizations. We are not able to share details about the construction or the location of our Region as this is part of our secure design approach. "