Expanding Ohakea expected to bring 1000 new jobs

1.00pm

Air Force planners are expecting the Ohakea air base's expanded role to bring around 1000 jobs and 3000 people to Manawatu.

The move will be completed around 2008/09 if the Government signs off on the plan this year, with the main move completed within a year of getting under way.

Former Ohakea commander Wing Commander Graham Poucher is working on remodelling the largely World War 2-era base for its new role.

He told the Manawatu Chamber of Commerce the draft plan was for the Ohakea working community to increase from 650-700 to 1700-1800.

The 1000 new jobs will bring around 3000 people to the area. It is expected about 400 of the jobs will be filled by single people.

The two main hangars at Ohakea are to be the new homes of 5 Squadron (Orions) and 40 Squadron (Hercules and Boeing 757). The aircraft will be in the hangars only for servicing and will otherwise be parked on the apron, as they are at their present base at Whenuapai, on the northern outskirts of Auckland.

A new base is to be built for 3 Squadron (helicopters), along with new administration buildings, barracks and family housing.

Wg Cdr Poucher said about 460 Air Force houses were associated with the Auckland bases, all of them full, though some were occupied by Navy and Army people.

Auckland house prices were out of reach for many military families, but that may not be the case in Manawatu, he said.

Housing would be influenced by changes that would make frequent relocation of personnel a thing of the past once operations were concentrated on Ohakea. Air Force personnel could expect to be at Ohakea for 95 per cent of their careers.

Ohakea has 260 Air Force homes, not all occupied. Some have been used temporarily by victims of February floods.

For the Air Force's purposes, Wg Cdr Poucher said, the Ohakea main runway was at the required length and load-carrying standard. Any extensions for civil use were not an Air Force matter.

With about 500 more cars possibly moving around Ohakea each day, Transit New Zealand was being kept informed of developments, he said.

Part of the plan is for the Air Force-owned Pukenui Rd, which runs between State Highway 1 and the Ohakea main gate, to be closed to the public.

- NZPA