Port closes gate on cruise ship passenger plan

A concept design for the $5m visitor information centre planned to be built on Coronation Park, Mount Maunganui. Image/Jasmax

Plans to funnel cruise ship passengers directly into the proposed $5 million gateway visitor information centre at Mount Maunganui have received a setback because of safety concerns by the Port of Tauranga.

Tauranga City Council and Tourism Bay of Plenty wanted a new port gate for passengers that opened directly on to Coronation Park where the visitor centre was planned to be built.

But Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns said it would have meant cruise ship passengers walked through a port operating area.

"It would have been completely unsafe."

Mr Cairns said it left the status quo of the Salisbury Ave gate as the only viable gate for passengers. The port company was happy for the existing i-Port information centre to remain on the wharf.

The council agreed earlier this year to put $4m of rates into its draft 2017-18 Annual Plan to fund most of the information centre, even though several core elements of the project were undecided, including the location of the iconic building.

The council's preferred site was the Maunganui Rd/Nikau Cres corner of Coronation Park, but it also sought public feedback on the location of the former i-Site next to the police station in Salisbury Ave.

Tauranga Mayor Greg Brownless said the port company had good reasons for not agreeing to a new gate through the back fence onto Coronation Park. He did not see the decision as creating a ''huge problem'' for the project.

Mr Brownless said it might cause a rethink of the location because the Maunganui Rd frontage on the other side of the park could be a bit far away for cruise ship passengers exiting through the Salisbury Ave gates.

"Perhaps we will need to apply our minds to the exact location."

He said funding the project had been more of a concern than whether or not the port agreed to a new gate. "We were pretty sure they were not going to agree."

The council wants the tourism sector to fund the building's additional $1m worth of cultural and iconic elements.

Mr Brownless said the history of Tauranga business sectors chipping in for projects that directly benefited their sector was not great.

Tourism was a billion dollar industry for the Western and Eastern Bay of Plenty, so businesses for which tourism was their lifeblood should be prepared to chuck in some of their profits to help fund the visitor information centre, he said.

"It's time they stepped up to the mark."

Mr Brownless said the project still had to go through the Annual Plan.

''It is not a foregone conclusion."

Councillor Rick Curach said the favoured site on Maunganui Rd was no longer an option. It was too far away from the Salisbury Ave gates to be considered directly accessible by cruise ship passengers.

The commercial lease on the old visitor information centre in Salisbury Ave expires in 2019. The council meets next week to hear submissions on the 2017-18 Annual Plan.

Proposed funding sources for Mount Maunganui visitor information centre

Tauranga's general rate: $2 million

Targetted rate levied on commercial ratepayers: $2 million

Tourism sector: $1 million