National will honour Treaty agreements over water, but says it ‘belongs to all New Zealanders’
Judith Collins says it’s important iwi are involved in discussions, but special provisions won’t be made for Māori. ...
National has promised a modern dry dock will be built in Whangārei, even though the private sector will pick up most of the tab.
Party leader Judith Collins made the announcement in Whangārei on Thursday, promising a modern, fit-for-purpose dry dock and associated infrastructure at Northport, creating 400 jobs.
The project would cost $300 million, including $100m for the floating dry dock itself and $200m for supporting infrastructure and land reclamation.
National will seek private sector capital for investment in the dry dock and its promised national infrastructure bank could also provide investment.
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A dry dock allows water to be drained and a ship to rest on a dry platform so it can be serviced.
The national infrastructure bank would also negotiate a core contract over 15 years for major government clients to use the dry dock, such as the New Zealand Navy, Niwa and the Interislander ferries.
Collins said infrastructure such as this will lay the bedrock for improvements to New Zealand’s long-term productivity.
The dry dock was one of the five major infrastructure projects campaigned for by Northland’s three mayors.
Whangārei MP, National's Dr Shane Reti, said it was a big win.
“[It] will create valuable jobs that will grow our economy. It is estimated to create 400 high-paying permanent jobs and an extra 200 jobs during the two to three year construction period,” he said.
“The marine dry dock will provide a much-needed injection which contributes to the long-term prosperity of the region and the rest of the country.”
Whangārei was chosen as the site – over contenders like Picton – because it has an available workforce, is close to the main navy base in Auckland’s Devonport, it is the deepest natural port in New Zealand and it has hectares of undeveloped land.
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