Focus on projects to draw investors

Initiatives around digital technology, Hawke's Bay Airport, the development of industrial parks and the Ruataniwha water storage projects are likely to feature at the launch of Business Hawke's Bay this afternoon.

The new organisation's chairman Stuart McLauchlan and chief executive Murray Douglas presented to the Hastings District Council's finance and operations committee yesterday ahead of the launch.

Mr Douglas said there were many investors from outside the region interested in the Whakatu industrial park because of its underground infrastructure which could provide for food-processing industries and other activities that generated large amounts of wastewater.

It was also connected to the rail network, the Port of Napier, and had the potential to be a major food distribution centre for the North Island, if the Ruataniwha water storage project went ahead.

"Whakatu is a national treasure and we're getting a lot of interest in it, as well as the industrial park at Irongate, in Hastings, and others in Napier," Mr Douglas said.

"You've already got high profile people like David Trubridge and Etika Dairies at Whakatu, those are superior world class businesses," he said.

"But what we're asking is for councils to have these industrial parks ready because it's no use having a prospective customer and saying wait two years while we get it ready."

Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule said he had seen other business parks throughout New Zealand which "were flash" with gated entrances and landscaped environments. "Do you think there is some merit in this council investing in Whakatu and Irongate in this way, to make it look better," Mr Yule said.

Mr Douglas said potential investors were keen on Whakatu industrial park's infrastructure but the same could not be said for its overall physical appearance.

"Some of the roads at the back of the park I am surprised that trucks are using them. There is a little bit of work to do there long-term to make it appealing against those in Palmerston North and Auckland, they look superb," Mr Douglas said.

He said today's launch wold also be used to talk more about how Business Hawke's Bay can help people take advantage of fibre broadband technology.

"Businesses here aren't learning how to connect to the rest of the world as much as other places. Having good fibre connections and being rural can give you an advantage," Mr Douglas said.

Plans for the Hawke's Bay Airport business park may also feature at today's launch as well as a long-term initiative to create an "aviation cluster" as air traffic was expected to become 40 per cent busier in the years to come around the Pacific rim.

Business Hawke's Bay launch will be held at the Hawke's Bay Opera House in Hastings at 5.30pm.