KEY POINTS:
Government representatives have offered up to $31 million to restore Onehunga's motorway-devastated foreshore, but only if Auckland City and the regional council chip in.
The offer was made to a meeting in Onehunga yesterday at which the regional council came under strong pressure to pledge financial support of
$6 million to $11 million before the end of next month, to avoid delaying a $230 million motorway duplication project across Manukau Harbour.
Senior minister and Roskill MP Phil Goff said after the meeting, which he convened, that the Transport Agency had confirmed a willingness to pay an extra $20 million to move the motorway closer to the Onehunga foreshore and to build a pedestrian-cycle bridge over it.
Auckland City had also pledged up to $10 million towards an 11ha reclamation of the foreshore, a venture expected to cost $18 million to $33 million.
Mr Goff said Finance Minister Michael Cullen had indicated a readiness "to assist perhaps up to the same amount" if the city and regional council could agree to a three-way funding split.
But he said the regional council's preference for the widened motorway to be sunk into a trench would make the project unaffordable, given a cost estimate by the Transport Agency of $190 million to $230 million.
Auckland City Mayor John Banks said he was "quietly confident that common sense will prevail, especially given the generous offer by the Government 10 days before the election".
But regional council chairman Mike Lee indicated strong discomfort last night over the timing of the offer, which was made in the presence of rival candidates for the Maungakiekie electorate, Carol Beaumont for Labour and Auckland City councillor Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga for National.
"I don't propose to discuss this project, which has major implications for Auckland, in the context of an election campaign and the competition between National and Labour for that seat," he said.
"I'm not interested in a short-term fudge - Onehunga has had too much of that over the years and the degrading of the visual amenity has been because of an accumulation of short-term decisions."
Mr Lee said his council was "more than willing to pull our weight", having already contributed $8 million to a railway station for Onehunga and $2.5 million to ensure the Transport Agency's motorway bridge across Manukau Harbour would be strong enough to carry trains to the airport.
"But I don't want the ARC being kicked around as some sort of political football."
Mr Goff said earlier he remained hopeful the regional council would "come to the party" by the end of next month, by which time the Transport Agency would need a resolution for the motorway duplication project between Mangere and Hillsborough to be completed in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.