Mayor Strong-armed, Again?

The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance has expressed scepticism over Mayor Wayne Brown’s decision to not pursue a 35-year lease of operations for the Port of Auckland.

Commenting, Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson Sam Warren said:

“This decision has been made on the proviso that the Port’s profitability can be lifted.

“If that's the case, then that should be priced into the market value of the port lease – this appears to be nothing more than the Mayor being strong-armed by the self-interested unions, and he is now trying to claim he has a better deal.

“The Mayor has traded away near-guaranteed returns that would have been ring-fenced, diversified and ultimately put toward infrastructure. Instead we are getting more uncertainty for ratepayers and fantasy-land projections.

“We understand private operators would have offered a better deal with public access to larger areas of the port’s footprint – including the whole of Bledisloe Wharf. This deal pushes that overboard.”

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