KEY POINTS:
If there's two things business and local and central government agree on it is the need for Auckland to have a single regional plan and a shared vision for the future.
The Metro Project, which started in 2002, aims to do just that as part of a campaign to transform Auckland into a global region that fosters innovation, business development and wealth-creation.
Most of 31 recommendations on the action plan, released on October 6, require greater co-operation and planning than now exists in the Auckland region.
The fiasco over the Auckland venue for the 2011 Rugby World Cup underscored the absence of a shared vision in a region administered by seven often-bickering local authorities and an unpopular regional council. The promoters of the Metro Project, a mixture of academics, local politicians and businesspeople, hope their action plan will solve this.
The plan, although it follows extensive consultation with business, central and local government, economic development agencies, and Maori, migrant and Pacific leaders, is pithy and highly practical.
The project leader, Auckland Regional Economic Development Forum chair Michael Barnett, says Auckland can become a world-class region.
"We have the potential to lead the South Pacific's financial and trade services sector but I believe our best option is to carve out a powerful niche as a unique and highly attractive Pacific region leader that is culturally diverse, accessible, innovative and distinctive."
He says Auckland's potential has remained largely untapped but the Metro Project Action Plan provides an "unprecedented opportunity" to turn this situation around.
"This is a truly nation-building exercise because Auckland's success will be New Zealand's success."
To ensure the project does not become a talking-shop, a number of workstreams, led by businesspeople, have been created to deal with the region's specific problems.
Ross Peat is heading the broadband workstream with a view to lifting the region's (and country's) uptake and usage of broadband to the top half of the OECD average by the end of 2008.
"I am going around and having discussions with the major telcos and direct cable providers. It has to make commercial sense if we collaborate over change.
"There is definitely an opportunity for greater collaboration in the wired market [copper and fibre optic] and greater competition in the wireless market."
He says Auckland faces a major challenge to breach "digital divide" by making it easier for people gain access to the internet and be aware of its potential.
"The aim is to make Auckland a stronger, more vibrant economy."
The international team, which peer-reviewed the Metro Project in July, identified broadband as a "determiner of competitiveness" and critical for the creation of "intelligent communities".
"The five critical factors for the creation of 'intelligent communities'," the team reported, "are broadband infrastructure, a knowledge workforce, innovation, digital democracy, and marketing. The creation of a knowledge workforce is one of the primary means by which cities can ensure that the majority of their citizens benefit from the Digital Age economy."
The team said the government's decision to remove Telecom's monopoly on the local loop to encourage a greater uptake of broadband was a step in the right direction but needed to be followed up by a drive for increased usage and capacity and complemented by wireless broadband.
"Work towards this plan is already being undertaken but must be supported by the single plan for Auckland and a commitment by Auckland to lead the country in this area," the team said.
"Broadband is the infrastructure of the knowledge economy and is the platform for Auckland to become more globally connected."
Central to the region's business growth is a secure energy supply. Businesses still have memories of the six-week electricity failure in 1998 that all but crippled the central business district.
Doug Heffernan, chief executive of Mighty River Power, who heads the Metro Project's energy workstream, says there is a widespread view among Aucklanders that security of energy supply is not their problem.
"We are growing up in an age where the electricity network has moved away from centralised decision-making."
Heffernan says electricity used to be seen as a precursor to economic growth but this has been replaced by a view that infrastructure is a cost and should be debated as a cost.
"So the decision about transmission lines coming into Auckland has degenerated into a cost argument. People have lost sight that basic infrastructure is an enabler rather than a cost."
Heffernan is not moved by the argument that Auckland's energy problem is more to do with generation rather than transmission.
"There does not happen to be a coalmine in Auckland, no gas pipes, no geothermal and no rivers. Transmission has been the most effective way [of getting power to Auckland]."
He says the greatest concern to Aucklanders is not that the electricity network might sometimes fail when the normal service will be restored.
"They are more interested in how long it takes for the lights to go back on."
Security of energy supply, apart from the obvious risk to business, impacts heavily on Auckland's plan to be a world-class region. It threatens its ability to attract international conferences, weakens the case for investing in an international conference centre and is a potential barrier to hosting big-ticket events such as the Rugby World Cup.
The peer review team noted in July that the Rugby World Cup could be a catalyst for the improvements the Auckland region is seeking.
"It will not only be a significant sports festival and tourism event but could also be the means to achieve much wider developmental and economic outcomes.
"Sports activities might be coupled with culture, science or technological expositions. Improvements to transport, hotel and other visitor infrastructure might serve broader purposes. But most importantly, the [Rugby World Cup] can offer Auckland the opportunity to build new markets in high-value activities in higher education, media, science and production."
David McConnell, who heads the Metro Project's Visit Auckland workstream, says lifting visitor numbers to Auckland extends well beyond the benefits to tourism.
"I see it not just about economics but a catalyst for a much wider level of events. I am not saying the economic side is not important but we have got a chance for the World Cup to put a stake in the ground for catalytic change."
He says those cities with smart visitor strategies use events to lift their game in a variety of areas.
A major challenge for the Metro Project is to ensure the Auckland region has a world-class workforce.
The peer review team recommended that the Metro Project become the "voice and advocate" of workplace issues - matters that the Chamber of Commerce and EMA (Northern) handle now.
The team said the project should disseminate widely information on Auckland's changing demographics, educate business owners about the future of their workforce and help dispel myths about the unemployed, underemployed and migrant workers.
It also called for stronger links between business and community education, better training and skill-building, identification and action on schools with high dropout rates and partnerships between secondary schools and particular industries.
The team also questioned whether present tax policies and legislation encouraged productive investment and academic research relevant to economic needs.
Perer Menzies, who heads the Metro Project's skills and education workstream, says his role is more mentoring than leadership.
He says the project's focus will be on improving business links with secondary schools and assisting schools in low-decile areas to perform to their potential.
"While the average statistics for New Zealand children in schools don't look too bad, the bottom 25 per cent in schools are among the worst in the OECD. The Committee for Auckland is aware of this and is targeting resources at schools that have got this problem." Menzies says the project also involves considerable work in research and innovation, and immigration.
Top City
Plans for a better Auckland started in 2002.
The Metro Project was initiated to make the Auckland region an "internationally competitive, inclusive and dynamic economy; a great place to live and conduct business; and a place buzzing with innovation, where skilled people work in world-class enterprises".
The vision, developed in 2002 as part of the Auckland Regional Economic Development Strategy, resulted from wide consultation with business, central, local and regional government, economic development agencies, Maori, migrant community and Pacific leaders.
On October 6 the Auckland Regional Economic Development Forum launched an action plan to transform Auckland. It contains five objectives:
1.Take effective and efficient action to transform Auckland's economy.
2. Develop world-class infrastructure and world-class urban centres.
3. Transform Auckland into a world-class destination.
4. Develop a skilled and responsive labour force.
5. Increase Auckland's business innovation and export strength.
The project underwent a peer review by a six-person international review team in July which noted that much had been done in the past to promote the region's future but "too many initiatives are small in scale, separated or disaggregated from one another".
"This action plan should be about a small number of large-scale interventions that command wide support and are delivered in a participative manner," the team noted.
