Regional squabble stalls ferry project

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Auckland ferry users have been denied immediate improvements following last-minute political manoeuvrings by North Shore City Council blocking a $35 million wharf project.

It is the second blow this month to regional unity on public transport. Local body politicians and officials are also divided over buying new or secondhand trains for the upgraded rail network.

Funding agency Infrastructure Auckland yesterday deferred a grant of between $29.1 million and $31.2 million to a regional ferry project after North Shore City changed its position towards wharf ownership on Friday.

Infrastructure Auckland had been working with Auckland, Manukau, Waitakere and North Shore cities for two years to buy six wharves from Ports of Auckland for $11.7 million and develop 13 wharf facilities at a cost of $23.1 million.

Richard Didsbury, Infrastructure director, summed up the frustration towards North Shore by saying it was "another example of Auckland falling to bits at the finish line".

North Shore mayor George Wood last night said the council's position on ownership of the wharves should not hold up the region's ferry project.

North Shore has major problems with Auckland Regional Transport Network owning the wharves.

Mr Wood said the council had a nagging concern that the network, set up last year as a local authority trading enterprise to buy and own the rail corridors, could sell the wharves just like the Yellow Bus Company was sold under a LATE structure.

In a flurry of correspondence between North Shore and Infrastructure since Friday, Mr Wood said the council wanted to own the North Shore ferries being sold by Ports of Auckland - Birkenhead, Devonport and Northcote Pt - but was happy for the Auckland Regional Transport Network to develop and operate all the regional ferry infrastructure.

North Shore councillor Dr Joel Cayford said the council did not want to be "shoe-horned" into an inappropriate ownership structure, saying it had been advocating a regional public transport entity for some years.

Infrastructure Auckland chairman John Robertson said ferry users could have seen an immediate start to upgrading the wharves if the original application from the four councils had gone ahead.

Progress would be deferred until the applicants sorted the matter out and resubmitted an application to Infrastructure Auckland.

Mr Robertson said the North Shore proposal involved fragmented ownership and management with the potential for varying service and standard levels.

But the deferral was welcomed by the Waiheke Ferry Users Group, which is opposed to a "rail" company running the wharves.

Spokesman Vern Whitehead said a once-in-a-lifetime chance existed for the city to get it right and put all the wharves into a simple structure with local involvement.

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