A New Zealand High Court upheld a judicial review of port of Tauranga’s fast-track application for the Stella Passage development.
According to the port, the High Court has determined that the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) should not have accepted its application as the project was not as described in schedule 2 of the legislation. A fast-track panel that was due to commence on September 1 has been put on hold pending further direction from the court.
Port of Tauranga chief executive, Leonard Sampson, said it was ludicrous that a project worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the New Zealand economy could be unnecessarily delayed yet again – this time by a few words missing from a schedule due to a drafting oversight. The port insists the project description always included Mount Maunganui and Sulphur Point wharves.
“We are turning away shipping lines that want to call at Tauranga. In the last month, the port has had to turn away a proposed new service to the Americas that would have provided New Zealand importers and exporters with an estimated NZD65-90 million [USD38-53 million] per annum in international freight savings. The delays are preventing a much-needed boost to the New Zealand economy,” said Sampson.
The port is urging the government to act and rectify the wording in the fast-track legislation to resolve the situation.
The Stella Passage project involves extending the Sulphur Point container berth by 385 m and the Mount Maunganui wharves by 315 m. The project will also include the associated reclamation of land behind the new wharves and dredging.
