WASHINGTON: Auckland’s port company is looking to build a one-hectare rooftop park, a hotel and a wharf extension as part of a “30-year masterplan”. The council-owned company said its plan would allow it to grow during the decades leading up to a possible relocation being considered by the government and council. It is pitching its plans to the public before seeking the approval of Auckland Council. The biggest change, and likely the most contentious, is a re-arrangement of the general cargo operation which reaches from Captain Cook wharf in the west, through to the Fergusson container terminal in the east.
The port wants to build a 13m piled extension running 330m along the harbour edge of Bledisloe Wharf to create space for large-vehicle transport ships. That would allow a rearrangement of other berths, ending the use of Captain Cook Wharf for car imports and freeing it for public space, and perhaps a cruise ship berth in five to 10 years. The already shortened Marsden Wharf would be demolished. Auckland mayor Phil Goff campaigned for office pledging no more harbour reclamation. He said he was ambivalent about the Bledisloe extension, which would be built on piles.
“There are areas of the port proposal that are interesting and constructive, and there are areas that I’m far more conservative on, including the extension of any wharf,” Mr Goff said. “If they can come back to me and show they are taking infrastructure out of the harbour … maybe they can persuade the community and maybe they’ll persuade me.” A hotel is proposed on the Quay Street frontage of Bledisloe Wharf to add city-life to the edge of the port precinct, although it might also house a technology centre. That building would link to a 1ha park on top of a five-level 2600-space car park building, to help accommodate the flow of light vehicle imports through Bledisloe Wharf.
