Cr Jim O’Malley, who is the Dunedin City Council representative on the Otago regional transport committee, said he “100%” backed an alternative site at Milburn, announced this week by Calder Stewart.
Port Otago and Dynes Transport have previously touted plans for an inland depot, the “Southern Link Logistics Park”, to be established in Mosgiel.
Now, Calder Stewart has announced plans for a “Milburn Quadrant development” near Milton, which the construction giant said could be completed sooner than its competitors’.
Cr O’Malley said an inland port had been identified in the regional land transport plan for the past seven years — and Calder Stewart’s plans for a 55ha facility to take freight off trucks in State Highway1 and load it on to rail at its property north of Milton was in “exactly the right place”.
“I think it will be a really big boon to both the Clutha district and the Dunedin city district when it’s built.”
Cr O’Malley said he expected a city council traffic analysis due to be completed soon would show an inland port at Mosgiel would overload roads.
He said the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) had already signalled it did not support funding a heavy traffic bypass in Mosgiel.
And although it was outside Dunedin’s boundary, the Milburn area offered the best opportunity for Dunedin’s industrial area to grow.
“It’s actually as close as we can get for the next expansion of Dunedin city’s industrial base,” Cr O’Malley said.
“And while people will say it’s a long way away, I guess I make the comparison that Milton, Milburn and Balclutha are sort of relative to us in the same way that the Hutt Valley is relative to Wellington.
Dunedin was constrained by geography and could not simply expand in the way that Christchurch could.
“Every once in a while we have to jump,” he said.
“And we are running out of industrial space in Mosgiel.”
An inland port was not simply a place where freight was transferred from trucks on to rail, Cr O’Malley said.
“They’re actually put right in the middle of industrial space, so industry that uses space forms around it.
“That’s why it’s a boon for jobs.”
Calder Stewart’s planned Milburn Quadrant sits on 200ha of land and Calder Stewart lower South Island business development manager John D’Arcy said it would pursue its plans whether or not the Mosgiel facility went ahead.
Its site was well situated for a rapidly increasing forestry market that would offload its logs to rail at Milburn, the company said.
Cr O’Malley said Port Otago needed to understand that it would “not be good for the port” if chief executive Kevin Winders “doesn’t co-operate, because that stuff will end up just going to Lyttelton”.
When asked what kind of co-operation was required from Mr Winders with respect to the Milburn site, Cr O’Malley said: “stop blocking it”.
He went further to suggest Port Otago had designs on developing “a large log port in the centre of Dunedin”.
“From a traffic perspective, putting more logs in central Dunedin is not the objective of our transport department.”
Yesterday, Mr Winders said the port company welcomed Calder Stewart’s investment in the region and said the company did not have plans to develop a large log port in the centre of Dunedin.
He said Cr O’Malley “can say what he likes”, but questioned who the councillor was speaking for.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich said Cr O’Malley was entitled to his own opinion, but that was all he was expressing.
“If Cr O’Malley is purporting to speak for the DCC, the DCC transport department, or the regional transport committee, he is out of line.
“Jim doesn’t speak for the NZTA,” Mr Radich said.
“The DCC does not favour one proposal over another.
“He favours Milburn, I personally strongly favour Mosgiel.
“And I think the Mosgiel proposal is very important for the economic development of Dunedin and the wider region, Otago and Southland.”
The Port Otago-Dynes Transport proposal would create jobs for Mosgiel, which was growing, and which the city council was planning for with Three Waters infrastructure scheduled in its forthcoming nine-year plan.
Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board chairman and mayoral candidate Andrew Simms said the community board had been heavily involved with the proposal for the Mosgiel facility.
It had offered “conditional support” on the basis that the heavy traffic bypass for Mosgiel was “dealt with at the same time”.
The community board believed the facility would bring jobs and growth to Mosgiel while also presenting a “real win” for Dunedin and, in particular, the West Harbour community as it would take a large number of trucks off State Highway88 to Port Chalmers.
Further, there was ample unproductive or semi-productive flat land in the area that could be re-zoned to industrial to accommodate growth.
“Why Cr O’Malley is promoting growth in the Clutha district is beyond me,” Mr Simms said.
“That astounds me.
“I do not understand why you’ve got a sitting councillor of the DCC promoting or trying to encourage industrial growth in another district.”
