WELLINGTON, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The district council of Ashburton in New Zealand's South Island is to fund urgent work on a historic Chinese settlement to preserve the site and its buildings, according to the council on Sunday.

The site in the Ashburton suburb of Allentown was established in 1917, and over time grew to a Chinese settlement of about 90 people, most of whom market gardeners.

The council took over management of the site in 2013, agreeing to preserve it as a heritage site and erect a memorial.

Its finance committee has approved 45,000 NZ dollars (30,541 U.S. dollars) to be spent on draining the site, fencing the area, stabilizing and weatherproofing the buildings, among others.

The money is the last of the 130,000 NZ dollars (88,230 U.S. dollars) which was allocated to the project in 2017.

Councilor Leen Braam, who chairs the council's Chinese Settlement Working Group, said the primary goal was to retain what was there now.

He said the next phases of the project were likely to include restoration of existing buildings, deconstruction and reconstruction of the settlement's shop, and a memorial to the people who lived and worked at the settlement.