I agree with Alasdair Thompson, CEO, Employers & Manufacturers Association's article -NZ Herald 28 March on Auckland's Draft Plan. However the plan needs a vision for the entire Auckland Province not just the Super City.
The Port of Auckland has passed its use-by date and should be sold to the Port of Tauranga who already have sufficient container storage space in South Auckland & Mt Maunganui with more planned in Waikato and Te Puke.
POA's shipping channel is too shallow for bigger container vessels and environmental approval to blast a deeper channel in the Hauraki Gulf will be difficult if not impossible whereas POT is on the cusp of their approval to deepen the channel at Mt Maunganui. Further, POA's land is too valuable for storing cars and containers, once a sale is made, POT could sell the surplus POA land back to the Super City for down-town development.
Still thinking strategically, NZ Rail should 'double track” the Auckland - Mt Maunganui rail line and move containers more efficiently (by rail) in both directions, a significant saving to our roading system.
These proposals compliment the Govt's vision of the ‘Golden Triangle” between Auckland-Hamilton-Tauranga.
This is the sort of vision our country needs in this increasingly competitive global environment. Forget about the money, there's a trillion dollars a day floating around the world looking for a good strategic (investment) home and NZ's clean/green image is becoming more 'bankable' by the day.
Max Lewis, Mt Maunganui.