KEY POINTS:
Labour candidates were thick on the ground beside South Auckland railway tracks yesterday when Prime Minister Helen Clark announced the Government would put $6 million into a new "inland port".
Ports of Auckland will add about $3.1 million, on top of the $19 million it has already spent on buying and developing a 15ha site for an interchange between trucks and trains beside the North Island main trunk line at Wiri.
The company says it will eliminate up to 100,000 truck trips a year over Auckland roads by moving freight on mainly night shuttle trains between the waterfront and a Wiri staging post, which will include almost 5ha owned by Government rail agency Ontrack.
But although Helen Clark said her Cabinet had approved $6 million for a joint venture between the port company and Ontrack, Ports chief Jens Madsen noted that final terms and conditions had yet to be agreed.
"I am confident we will be able to achieve a satisfactory settlement, hopefully within the next few days," he told her and at least eight other Labour MPs and candidates.
Otherwise, the parties would risk missing this construction season and might not be able to complete the project by next winter.
Helen Clark said Wiri was the first of several projects the Government had in mind for anti-recession economic stimulation. Others would have to wait until after the election.
"This is indicative of the kind of priority we are giving to job-rich projects which also have multiple benefits - reducing traffic congestion, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, making it safer to travel on our roads."
Port of Tauranga chief Mark Cairns, said he was disappointed that the announcement came in a week during which both main parties had been talking "pork-barrel politics".
He sasid his company had invested millions of dollars of shareholders' money in its nearby MetroPort operation at Southdown
