Aerial view of the Port of Tauranga. Photo / Mead Norton
A forum designed to address infrastructure including housing and transport in the Western Bay of Plenty has been launched in Tauranga today.
The launch of the Western Bay of Plenty Infrastructure Forum was attended by Finance Minister Grant Robertson and other invited guests who discussed the challenges facing the region and the urgent need for action to improve transport and housing options for the community.
According to the infrastructure action plan, Tauranga is the fifth largest and the fastest growing city in New Zealand.
However, the city’s rapid growth has outstripped its infrastructure.
“Tauranga faces some very real constraints around its infrastructure,” the plan says.
“[There is] a lack of land available for development, low productivity, housing and rental unaffordability and restricted access to the country’s largest port.”
The forum includes representatives from the Tauranga Business Chamber, Port of Tauranga, Priority One, Ballance, Zespri, Tranzliquid, Urban Taskforce, Tauranga Māori Business Association and the Employers and Manufacturers Association.
In a statement, the forum’s chairman and chief executive of Priority One, Nigel Tutt, said the Government needed to look towards investing in “critical infrastructure” to ensure the region continued to grow and thrive and support the wider economic needs of New Zealand.
“The city has seen a 72 per cent population increase since the turn of the century, yet only the Tauranga Eastern Link has been completed during that time.”
Tutt said regional GDP growth last year was 8.1 per cent, compared to national growth of 5.3 per cent.
“We’re home to one of our largest horticulture exports and Aotearoa’s highest freight volume of imports and exports through Port of Tauranga. Without better infrastructure we’re putting everything at risk – we deserve better and so does New Zealand.”
Port of Tauranga chief executive Leonard Sampson said the port was a “vital link” for Aotearoa’s imports and exports, and without development the country was likely to face future growth constraints.
He said the forum’s launch was a “significant step forward” to address an infrastructure deficit that Tauranga and the wider region faced.
In the statement, Tranzliquid Logistics Ltd managing director Greg Pert said long-term funding agreements around roading needed to be put in place urgently if the freight and logistics industry was to plan effectively and meet future demands.
He believed that while the Waikato Expressway had addressed some of the transport challenges, it had moved the congestion point further south.
“We’re experiencing significant delays in moving freight between Tauranga and the rest of the country due to poor roading infrastructure.
“The pressures in the future will only get bigger, as the economy and population continue to grow, and demands on the freight network become stronger - urgent action is needed.”
The forum brought together stakeholders from across the region, including business leaders, local government, and community representatives, to identify and prioritise infrastructure projects and advocate for investment.
It released the Tauranga Moana Infrastructure Action Plan, outlining key actions required to support Tauranga and the wider economy.
The forum would play a vital role in shaping the future of Tauranga and the wider region, working together to ensure the region had the infrastructure it needed to support growth and create opportunities locally and nationally.
The action plan outlines a 10-point action plan, Tauranga’s current infrastructure constraints according to the group and the forum’s 2033 vision for Tauranga’s infrastructure.
It says on the current trajectory projected growth of multibillion-dollar exports will be unable to be realised, imports will be constrained, industry productivity will remain low due to congestion and poor access to employment, housing and rental affordability will remain a critical issue and industry and transport decarbonisation will be hindered.
The vision outlined in the plan includes growth across the board which would include a forecast 74 to 94 per cent increase in rail traffic, Port of Tauranga berth expansion, and thousands more jobs and houses in places like Tauriko, Rangiuru business park and eastern suburbs.
The plan identifies State Highway 29 Tauriko, Hewletts Rd, Hull Rd and Totara St and the port as key infrastructure constraints.
At the launch Finance Minister Grant Robertson welcomed the forum, saying the strength it could bring would be “significant”.
”It is much easier for us when we’re at the other end of that, that we’re looking at something that’s coherent and understood and, dare I say it, even agreed across the region. That’s a magnificent place to start your work from.”
Robertson said it did not necessarily mean it was in a position to “automatically do things”.
But it meant the Government would have some “confidence” in investing in something that was “genuinely an integrated plan for a city or a region”.
Ten-point action plan