$12.4m to put NZ's top troops in a dump

By EUGENE BINGHAM

The country's top soldiers are housed at an inadequate base where the confidence course has been shut because it is a health hazard.

And it cost the country $12.4 million to put them there.

Moving the Special Air Service back to Papakura in south Auckland took $10 million more than budgeted, and the shift may not be permanent.

The SAS, at the vanguard of often secretive operations from East Timor to Afghanistan, is getting by with a battle training facility and a shooting range that need to be replaced, and buildings which date back to World War II.

It has no helicopter landing pads, the confidence course has been closed, and even a footpath had to be upgraded to meet Occupational Safety and Health standards.

Military leaders refused to let the Weekend Herald tour the facilities, and security staff were uneasy about the base being photographed from the outside.

The SAS has been shuffled between bases for 10 years, and New Zealand First MP Ron Mark - a former soldier - said the affair was a debacle.

He said the Government needed to treat the force properly, or some of the world's best soldiers would be lost.

The SAS base has been the subject of political and bureaucratic to-ing and fro-ing since 1993.

Then the Army decided to close the Papakura camp and the regiment was moved from Papakura in south Auckland to Hobsonville in west Auckland.

As the Government moved towards closing the Hobsonville Air Base, the Defence Force set about finding a new home for the SAS.

In 1999, the Army settled on Linton, near Palmerston North. But within a year senior Defence Force officers moved the SAS back to Papakura, left largely vacant while a legal battle over its future was fought.

Initial estimates put the cost of moving back to Papakura at $2 million.

But a Ministry of Defence report into the move says the cost was at least $12.4 million, without even taking into account more renovations needed if the regiment is to stay in Papakura.

A battle training facility alone would cost $10 million to $15 million.

The report also reveals that some of the money was spent in breach of Cabinet instructions, and that Papakura may not be the permanent base.

An unfinished Defence Force study is reviewing the best place to base the SAS.

A Parliamentary committee says it is difficult to understand how the SAS relocation could have been handled so badly.

"We remain concerned about the overall weaknesses and deficiencies in planning and management of this project," said the Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee.

"It is difficult to understand how the project could have been approved, given all of the deficiencies."

The ministry's report on the affair, written by deputy secretary Mercus Cochrane, says the project went ahead without analysis of whether it fitted Government policy, hasty assessments of the Papakura site, and inadequate cost estimates.

The initial estimate, made after a cursory visit to Papakura by senior officials, was $2 million.

By the time the proposal went to Cabinet, the figure had risen to $8.4 million, and this was $4 million short of the final figure.

"The need for additional funding can be primarily attributed to inadequate planning," Ms Cochrane said.

"The extent of refurbishment required to Papakura Camp was significantly underestimated.

"Certain essential items were omitted from the project budget."

The base needed upgraded security and communications systems, alterations to barracks and kitchens, an explosives storehouse and fencing.

Ron Mark said the affair was a reflection of the way the Government had dealt with the military.

"The treatment of the SAS has been a debacle," said Mr Mark.

"Politicians get away making fine statements and they certainly like to wave the flag and tell everybody how good [the SAS] is, and then they disappear."

To have the group in a "derelict" headquarters was an embarrassment internationally.

Wing Commander John Seward, a spokesman for the Defence Force, downplayed the problems and said helicopters could fly in and out of the base despite it having no landing pads.

The Defence Force would not comment further.

A source close to the SAS said the troopers were happy with the base since it had been refurbished.

Leaders were initially alarmed but "as they realised it was going wrong, they yelled loud and clear and they were heard".

The troops considered Papakura a better option than moving south.

The source said the decision to move from Papakura had been pushed with indecent haste by people who had since left the military.