Auckland Mayor Len Brown has a serious challenger on his hands.
Millionaire businessman John Palino has thrown his hat in the ring for the mayoralty and says the campaign could cost around a million dollars.
He says Len Brown's policies have driven him to enter politics.
"The fact of the matter is that people are not happy with this plan. It's actually very scary and it's going to change people's way of life and we shouldn't do that and they're going to pay for it with the road tax and petrol tax."
He says unlike the inner city rail loop proposed by Mayor Len Brown, building up Manukau is doable.
"That's an actual project that you can fund. You can go out there you can get Government borrowing, borrow from the public, Government bonds and you fund that through the fact that it's a business plan and you can say in the future this is what it's going to bring us. It could be 20 year, 30 year loans."
A few years ago Mr Palino hosted the TV show The Kitchen Job.