Cup and Apec to cost up to $277m

Pricings in report to help council pick syndicate base plan

The cost of hosting the America’s Cup and Apec conference in Auckland during 2021 is up to $277 million, says a new report. The America’s Cup bases will cost between $147m and $187m and a further $90m of unbudgeted money is needed for other downtown projects to ensure the Cup and Apec conference are delivered to a world- class standard. The new costings are contained in a report released yesterday for Auckland councillors to choose between three options on where to locate the America’s Cup bases at a governing body meeting tomorrow.

The $277m figure does not include event costs for the Cup, which will be set out in a separate Host City Agreement negotiated with Team New Zealand.

The report recommends council express a preference for dispersing the bases across three wharves, subject to agreement with the Government and Team New Zealand on location, infrastructure and funding issues. The plan is to wrap up these matters for a final decision at a governing body meeting on December 14.

Mayor Phil Goff supports the dispersed base option.

The other two options are Team New Zealand’s preference to centralise the bases on a 220m extension to Halsey Wharf and a late push by community groups to fan them around Wynyard Wharf.

Councillors have more than 200 pages of material to digest before expressing a preference on plans for the cup base — and the future of the waterfront — which are proving divisive and taking the shine off a strong desire by all the parties to hold the 36th America’s Cup in Auckland.

The report contains comprehen- sive details, which have not been revealed before, and links the America’s Cup to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) conference in 2021. The report’s authors say there is critical work that needs to occur downtown for the Cup and Apec, including repairs to the Quay St seawall, upgrading Quay St and bus, ferry terminal and public open space improvements. These works will cost about $220m, of which $130m is currently funded. That leaves $90m of extra funding to be found and included in the council’s new 10-year budget.

The council has no spare cash and faces a multibillion-dollar hole on transport and housing infrastructure.

Goff believes the Government, which will benefit hugely from projections of a $1b Cup bonanza, should meet a lot of the costs. Officials have talked up the private sector contributing to the Cup infrastructure, but politicians say this is a fantasy.

The base row took a new twist yesterday with revelations of a 50m wharf extension as part of Goff’s preference across Halsey, Hobson and Wynyard wharves.

Stop Stealing Our Harbour spokesman Michael Goldwater said this was the first he knew about a 50m extension. “We are against any extension.”