John Cronin BOP Regional Council Chairman www.boprc.govt.nz

There is an old saying: 'alone we can do so little, together we can do so much”.

I doubt if many are aware of UNISA, which is an alliance working together for strategic economic development.

It involves the mayors and chief executives of Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga, the chairman and chief executives of the regional councils of Northland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty.

In economic terms, this area of New Zealand has often been referred to as ‘the golden triangle', as possibly about 53 per cent of the GDP comes from within this area.

The four first order issues are:

1. Economic development linkages

2. Transport, including rail, roads and freight

3. Ports, including inland ports

4. Tourism

We need to do this to ensure and support informed decision making on key land use, infrastructure (particularly roading) and investment, to improve economic performance of the Upper North Island and New Zealand.

We want to ensure this economic development so as to produce more and better jobs… and we want our share of this growth within Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty.

One example is the Port of Tauranga and its ongoing progress.

It is very important that roading from the middle of the North Island is in such a state that the produce that comes from the middle of the North Island can get to the port for export .

In a similar manner the rail links must be able to get the product both to the port and to the markets as the ships unload.

This is one reason why the regional council has at times had to think and work in a much broader area than within our ‘boundaries', and why we must try to plan for the future.

The current rail bridge cannot last forever and we do need to protect our rail corridors.

If you have a view on this or any other regional council matter please e-mail me [email protected]