Auckland elections: When is an election idea too big?
Monday, 19 August 2019
OPINION: An 18-lane double-decker harbour bridge and a barge system to whisk unsightly imported vehicles off Auckland's prized waterfront - what bigger ideas could a mayoral contest wish for?
Challenger John Tamihere lifted the bar last week with a concept to build a new harbour bridge on the existing bridge's piers, doable within a decade.
There is no real design, and the construction method to his knowledge had never been used on a bridge of this scale.
Incumbent Phil Goff's big idea was floated a week earlier, and perhaps because it looks more doable has escaped real scrutiny.
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Goff has picked up an idea proposed by a large vehicle transport firm, but previously discarded by the council-owned Ports of Auckland.
It could accelerate the port's longer-term plan to shrink its footprint and eventually return Captain Cook wharf for public space.
The thinking is, that rather than vehicles being unloaded and spending several days sitting on downtown wharves, waiting to be trucked away six or eight at a time, a large barge would carry then up the Tamaki estuary to a processing area run by logistics firm PTS.
Goff's carefully-worded media release mentioned barging only twice, but in interviews he spoke in detail about the type of barge, the possible capacity, the location of a future facility at Highbrook and even named the proponent as PTS, a major player in the vehicle freight business.
The suggestion that the 'waterfront car park' could shrink, and thousands of truck movements end, was not surprisingly welcomed by proponents of more public space on the edge of Waitemata Harbour.
Goff suddenly had a port policy in the mayoral contest, to counter his main rival John Tamihere who earlier proposed separating the port operation from the ownership of the land it sits on, and selling the operation.
There is plenty to suggest that the idea won't stack up, including this line from a letter in May from the port to the council on the issue: 'it is unlikely that anything more than marginal improvements would be economic.'
'Apart from the question of economics, barging is physically only possible to Highbrook and not to other inland yards,' said port chairwoman Liz Coutts.
Barging would need a custom-built vessel capable of carrying perhaps 250 vehicles, infrastructure at the port, significant dredging of the Tamaki Estuary and off-loading facilities at the Highbrook end.
The new vehicle industry would probably shun it because of the risk of damage from each movement of a new car.
The additional cost estimated by industry sources at up to $200 per vehicle could deter the lower-price, lower-margin used vehicle importers.
Vehicles would still need to be unloaded onto wharves, at times 2,000 come off a single arrival, and the port says the average time on the wharf, 2.5 days, is already low internationally.
Goff told Stuff he did not know why the port company had not warmed to the idea earlier, and despite saying Ports of Auckland would 'prioritise' its consideration, had not been told when they might come back to him on it.
'I imagine they will want to report progress to me within months,' said Goff.
Exploring a new option to retain the lucrative car trade for the council-owned company, but also perhaps gaining more public space, would also be a good counter-move to present to the government when it unveils a detail report expected next month, on the viability of shifting the vehicle trade and perhaps all or part of the port business eventually to another location.
With eight weeks of campaigning to go, there are bound to be more big ideas, whether being seen to have ideas is more important than having an idea that works, is for voters to decide.