After this year’s local government elections, the new Auckland mayor and elected representatives will face some major decisions on transport among other issues like the port’s future, housing, how to fund investment and to make the most of Auckland’s assets.
To date investment in the game-changing City Rail Link project has been lauded as a key milestone of Auckland Council’s 10-year budget from 2015 to 2025.
The council’s 2016 pre-election report, released yesterday, outlines what the most important of those decisions might be, as well as what more needs to be done. New Zealand’s councils are required by the Local Government Act 2002 to produce a report prior to each local government election.
The report also includes highlights from the council’s current 10-year budget, an outline of the council’s investment programme and what major infrastructure projects are planned over the next three years and into the longer term.
“Auckland is undergoing a huge transformation,” says the council’s acting chief executive Sue Tindal. “Auckland’s growth means that Auckland Council is facing a number of challenges.
“It’s worth noting that growth may hold major opportunities for Auckland, from attracting new investments and talent through to creating higher value jobs and businesses, and building a more vibrant, sustainable and exciting region.”
Some highlights of the chief executive report include: getting feedback from more than 27,000 Aucklanders on the 10-year budget from 2015 to 2025 that will see a larger investment in Auckland over the next 10 years than in any previous decade at $18.7 billion; the value of council assets growing from $29 billion at amalgamation to a projected $44 billion at end-June; achieving efficiency gains of more than $200 million per annum so far since amalgamation; the City Rail Link; a future urban land supply strategy that sets out a staged approach to the development of 11,000ha of current rural land as $17 billion of supporting infrastructure investment is rolled out over the next 30 years; forming a new development agency to enable urban transformation; and adopting a waste management and minimisation plan with a target of zero waste by 2040.
The Auckland Council elections’ voting period runs from September 16 to October 8.
The report can be viewed on the Auckland Council website.
