Part four of the Project Auckland series looks at 'Prosperity and Profile'
Efficiency gains from the new Auckland Super City will come in two forms: reduced administration costs and economies of scale in the council's operations; but more importantly by making one regional body responsible for all region-wide decisions, and local boards responsible for local decisions.
Yes, there will be useful gains from amalgamating the resources of Auckland's eight local territorial authorities as duplication is avoided and infrastructure inventory optimised.
But the evidence from restructuring councils in other international cities is that savings of this sort don't lead to lower rates, with savings made going towards more investment in infrastructure.
Auckland's business people have been careful to dispel any expectation that the reforms were to achieve lower rates or dramatically cut council costs.
Nonetheless business is confident there will be massive gains for Aucklanders, the city's environment and the country at large.
When we went to both the Royal Commission and Parliament to express our views on why the single city structure was needed we were very clear.
We said the single Auckland Council served by a single management structure would achieve high governance productivity across greater Auckland by ensuring a single, clear, region-wide vision for our city's growth.
The gains would be delivered by ensuring all stakeholders in Auckland could have a coherent picture of where the city was going and why.
In practical everyday terms these gains would be in eliminating the roadblocks to growth.
The causes of dysfunction of recent decades would disappear. Competing leadership goals, development objectives and standards between our eight councils would go.
Delays in getting agreement between multiple parties would diminish. Hundreds of joint committees in the city whose aim is just to co-ordinate between other committees won't be needed.
The different organisations required for major projects will find the collaboration they need between them is far simpler to achieve.
The city will be able to establish standardised building permits, resource consents and other requirements for the whole region. The same sort of rules will apply to the environment or building in Albany or Howick.
The vision and strategy for the city will be laid down in a single spatial plan. Everyone will be able to see how the plan applies to them, and what they need to do to work within it.
DIYers will be able to learn and apply the same rules to their projects whether they are in Pukekohe or Ponsonby. Similarly for developers, builders, plumbers and so on. Major projects of regional importance will have the same standardised principles writ large apply to them, whether for a sewage upgrade in the south or storm water in the city.
The single city will mean an end to the sort of endless boundary disputes that delayed completing our motorway network at Waterview, and saw vital transport links between Manukau and Auckland in the east stopped dead.
Fast broadband fibre will be that much more efficiently planned and rolled out with fewer consenting processes to negotiate.
The gains from Auckland's imminent new governance and administration structures won't happen overnight. But we are confident the Super City will carry forward the vision of Auckland as a world-class city as a great place to live and work.
Alasdair Thompson is chief executive of the Employers & Manufacturers Association
