Brian Rudman: Import more cars to pay for solution to gridlock

No one could accuse me of being a champion of noisy sports, but I do have sneaky sympathy for the microlighters of Pikes Pt, who have been given their marching orders after 25 years of minding their own business at their "temporary" Manukau Harbour airport.

Ports of Auckland, which has been leasing the land to the home-made aircraft and model plane operators on a three-month, roll-over agreement since 1983, wants it back so it can store second-hand Japanese imported cars there.

To digress for a moment, delving into the reports on this land reminded me of what a crazy, mixed-up world we live in. Just two months ago, one of the great issues of the election campaign was congestion on Auckland roads, how it was costing in excess of $1 billion a year to the local economy and of our need for tens of billions of dollars for new roads and public transport solutions to ease the problem.

Yet no one said that across Auckland's wharves are pouring more than 200,000 extra cars a year, and that number is growing. What's more, Ports of Auckland, active in its support for more roads and less congestion, heralds the car trade as wonderful for Auckland's economy - well, its economy anyway.

"The imported car business realises over $12 million per annum of revenue for POAL and it is a growing area of our business," wrote chief executive Geoff Vazey on October 10 to Judith Bassett, Auckland regional councillor and chairwoman of Auckland Regional Holdings, owner of the port company.

Explaining the need for Pikes Pt as the new storage facility for imported cars, Mr Vazey said the trade accounted "for over $100 million of POAL's value" and if it were lost, dividends to Mrs Bassett's ARH would be reduced by about $8 million a year. Dividends to help pay for public transport solutions to try and counter the congestion caused by more cars on the roads.

No wonder all some people want to do is jump into a microlight and fly up, up and away.

Business is increasing at the downtown wharves and instead of processing the cars there, the port company wants to create a dedicated storage and processing facility at Pikes Pt, thus taking pressure off valuable city cargo space.

Initially it hinted at reducing cross-city congestion, by railing the cars to the new depot. But these plans are now on hold and I was told yesterday, rail will be used "when there is enough scale to make it economically feasible".

For the port company, it's a good and cheap solution. The land was an old refuse site, handed to the Auckland Harbour Board when full, and then inherited by Ports of Auckland. It's now valued at $14,700,000. Because the land is still settling, Mr Vazey told Mrs Bassett "its geotechnical strength is less than terra firma", and "cars are a very suitable use for this land".

Another is landing light planes. Indeed, microlight stalwart Don Wilkinson would say this is the only place in Auckland suitable for his sport. He should know. He spent ages looking for a site back in the 1970s before spotting Pikes Pt and bringing in his own bulldozer - he's a contractor - to flatten and add fill.

Over the last year, since Ports signalled it wanted the land back, he's been searching in vain for a new home. But other small airports have hung out the "Full" sign, and getting resource consent for a new one seems out of the question.

Mr Wilkinson wants the port company to store the cars in the old Wiri quarry site, but that has been rejected as being too expensive to develop and not meeting "the criteria of improving the Auckland imported vehicle supply chain". That, I think, means it's not close enough to the Penrose-based retail car dealers.

Mr Wilkinson and friends say they've spend $150,000 of their own money improving the site, and are prepared to spend the same again on creating a recreational "noise" park for plane and go-kart enthusiast. Community boards on both side of the Manukau support them. But at the regional council, the focus is on maximising dividends - to raise money to help fight the congestion created by more cars on our roads.