A major $821 million expansion of Lyttelton's port has some residents concerned over how the project was communicated to the public.
Lyttelton Port Company, in partnership with Christchurch City Holdings Limited, announced the expansion of its container terminal and the construction of a deepwater wharf at Te Awaparahi Bay this week.
However, following the announcement concerns were raised that the public was kept in the dark.
New Zealanders for a Democratic Economy (NZDE) originally protested earlier negotiations with Dubai based multinational logistics company D.P World.
The announcement revealed D.P World were not participants in the final deal, however NZDE co-chair Dr Nathan McCluskey said the group still wasn't happy with the agreement proceedings.
“We are not opposed to expansion at the port. The issue that we have is we believe in a democratic economy for New Zealand, and that means that public assets remain in public control.
“We’re talking about getting close to $1 billion once we're done, who knows once it's done it may be more. That's a lot of debt weight to carry and our concern is that that's happened in a way which much of the process has behind closed doors.”
McCluskey said he accepted the port could be a positive expansion for the region, but believed more transparency was needed from Lyttelton Port Company (LPC) and Christchurch City Holdings Limited (CCHL).
“Without seeing the modeling which hasn't been made clear to the public, it's hard to see whether that's the case or not.
They're talking about greater export and throughput, but current economic conditions don't suggest massive increases in the export market.”
Christchurch City Holdings Ltd chief executive Matthew Slater said the expansion brings resilience, capability and capacity of the port assets for the long-term benefit of the region and South Island.
“CCHL's engagement has been with Christchurch City Council,” he said.
CCHL and LPC did not comment further but referred to statements from a Te Awaparahi Bay Expansion fact sheet.
“The plan to move Port operations eastward and create a new deepwater terminal and berth in Te Awaparahi Bay was a key part of the Lyttelton Port Recovery Plan, which was a statutory document approved by the Government after extensive hearings and consultation in 2015.
“The move of the Port to the east and construction of the new berth will allow greater public use and access to Lyttelton’s inner harbour, and facilitate moving bulk cargo operations to Cashin Quay 3 and 4.”
CCHL chairman Bryan Pearson said the board’s decision to approve LPC’s major transaction followed extensive due diligence into the project’s strategic need, business case, funding pathway and long-term benefits for resilience, capacity and regional growth.
But McCluskey believed CCHL had lost public trust over the course of the deal.
“NCD is not at all opposed to growth or development, we're fully in supportive growth development. We just want to make sure that when it comes to public assets or public infrastructure that that growth occurs with public consent and knowledge and involvement.
“These are big debts which need to be paid, and we haven't seen the business case. We've seen statements and we've seen consents, but we haven't seen a business case and it's that that would provide greater confidence.
“Transparency enables that trust to be fostered; opacity means that suspicion increases and I think what we've seen is suspicion increase due to opacity.”
LPC and CCHL are targeting a fully functional new port at Te Awaparahi Bay by 2031.
