Who decides on the best mix of needs?

MikeWhite’s excellent Madness or genius? (Dec 26), on the land purchase by Christchurch airport company at Tarras for a future airport, raises wider issues.

Leaving aside the blind-siding tactics in the deal, how do we mix innovative business leadership with community, environment and wider infrastructure needs?

Why do seaports, airports and other key parts of our network have to compete?

Napier Port is now reportedly proposing a shift of the Wellington port business to its facility. There is a similar issuewith Auckland and Northland ports.

I suppose shareholders and councils (ratepayers) with a substantial stake in these enterprises have an obvious interest in their success. But who decides the best mix and network of ground transport, including rail systems, seaports and airports? Environment, efficiency and modern fuels are all bound up this, surely.

White mentions Southland. What about alternatives there, given Tiwai’s future?

He also mentions the silence of government. Leaving airport companies to battle it out with all the collateral community resentment, inter-regional rivalries, other damage and legal costs doesn’t seem like a good outcome.

It would heartening to know if there was a strategy in the wings to consider all the symptoms, including trucks on Northland roads, and the prospects of tourism, and getting Otago cherries to China. Alan Reid, Wellington