Porirua to build new ‘front door’

Porirua is proposing to set aside $11 million to create a new ‘‘front door to our city’’ once Transmission Gully is built.

Porirua City Council intends to make ‘‘strategic property purchases’’ in conjunction with the $33m it is spending on link roads to the motorway to the east of the city.

It has already attracted more than 100 workers from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (Mbie) to Porirua from Wellington, and hopes to attract more bureaucrats as well as businesses.

It has been pitching itself as a safer place to do business than Wellington when a natural disaster strikes, while highlighting cheaper tenant rents and close links to major transport routes, especially once Transmission Gully is finished – probably in 2020.

Mayor Mike Tana said the link roads through Waitangirua and Whitby to the motorway would make those areas ‘‘the front door to our city’’, so it would be important to have money set aside to ensure the right type of business could go there.

‘‘We have a lovely park there at the moment but what types of business will be there? Ones that can use that [traffic] corridor well.’’

It would be better to attract a government agency with easy access to the motorway than an industrial scaffolding business, for example.

‘‘It’s not a land-grab by the council, it’s ensuring the best use of land is supported. We would like it to be a welcoming front door.’’

The 2km Waitangirua Link Rd will eventually connect Warspite Ave in Waitangirua to an interchange with Whitby’s link road, and then on to Transmission Gully.

The roads will have 50kmh speed limits, a 1.5-metre sealed shoulder on both sides for cyclists, and a 3.3m verge to allow for a footpath to be built in the future.

About 4900 vehicles are expected to travel the Waitangirua road each day.

The link roads through Waitangirua and Whitby to the motorway would make those areas ‘‘the front door to our city’’.

Mayor Mike Tana

Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency interim chief executive Derek Fry said any traffic corridor ‘‘going through green fields’’ would present a range of opportunities for developing assets such as housing and business parks.

‘‘It’s very conceptual at this stage but we’re working with them.’’

The council wants feedback on the proposal, which features in its recently released Long-Term Plan 2018-38 consultation document.

Another proposal up for discussion is the construction of a multi-functional community facility to house a number of services such as a library, recreation facilities and community meeting rooms in eastern Porirua.

This comes with a $15m pricetag, and would potentially be built by about 2025.

Tana said it was an early idea for ‘‘something our community will grow around’’.