Councillors back new Kaiwharawhara ferry terminal
Wellington City councillors have officially thrown their support behind plans for a new ferry terminal at Kaiwharawhara, further denting KiwiRail’s hopes of setting up the terminal at KingsWharf.
KiwiRail, which operates the Interislander ferries in and out of Aotea Quay, will adopt two new mega-ferries from 2024 and needs a giant new wharf to accommodate them.
However, its preferred Kings Wharf site is at odds with the Kaiwharawhara site favoured by all other harbour users, including CentrePort, the city and regional councils, recreational harbour users, and rival ferry company Bluebridge.
A notice ofmotion declaring the council’s formal opposition to KiwiRail’s Kings Wharf proposal was signed by all 15 councillors yesterday. It will be voted on by councillors on December 16.
Councillor Nicola Young, who wrote the notice of motion with colleague Jill Day, said the Kings Wharf development would severely damage Wellington’s waterfront.
It would extend the existing wharf by 200 metres into the inner harbour and require five-storey link spans, an extensive marshalling yard, rail links to the main truck line atWellington Railway Station, and a road flyover.
‘‘Wellington’s central city waterfront would become an industrial area with a large and noisy marshalling yard, plus trains crossing from the railway station, a flyover along Waterloo Quay, and increased traffic congestion in the CBD,’’ Young said.
‘‘I hope our local MP/ finance minister [Grant Robertson] kills off this idea.’’ KiwiRail is a state-owned enterprise.
Young said the development would severely curtail water sports such as rowing, yachting and swimming because of safety problems and increased traffic, and it would create light and noise problems for people living in nearby apartment blocks and working on the waterfront.
The Greater Wellington Regional Council formalised its support for the Kaiwharawhara site in April, and a new port and waterfront vision to be unveiled by CentrePort today is also based on the assumption of a development at Kaiwharawhara.
KiwiRail’s three current Interislander ferries are nearing the end of their lives.