Auckland council non-committal on funding shortfall

Auckland councils should underwrite a funding shortfall for the redevelopment of Eden park as the Government will not be putting in more money, Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully said today.

Auckland City Council (ACC) Mayor John Banks said today his council would not respond to requests for funding to underwrite some of the cost of the Eden Park revamp until it has seen a business case.

The stadium is being redeveloped for the 2011 rugby World Cup, but funding shortfalls mean the Eden Park Trust Board is seeking ways to financially back the work while it seeks sponsorship deals.

ACC is spending $28 million to improve infrastructure surrounding the park and support the event, but has not contributed cash to the park redevelopment, maintaining it is a national project which should get national funding.

The Eden Park Redevelopment Board (EPRB), set up under agreement between the Government and the trust board, said there were always going to be funding shortfalls which needed filling, and that had not been helped by the grim financial climate making it hard to attract sponsorship.

Auckland Regional Council (ARC) has earmarked $10m for the redevelopment and EPRB chairman John Waller this morning said he hoped other local councils would chip in.

Mr McCully said the extra money needed to come from Auckland.

"There are sources of income that are going to flow in due course from commercial sponsorship, and so it is a question of bridging that gap," Mr McCully said.

"The New Zealand taxpayer has put $190 million to the Eden Park Development and the Auckland region is yet to put in $1." The people of Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin who had funded their stadiums would "look sideways" if the Government put in more money, he said.

Mr Banks has been adamant that taxpayers shouldn't have to fork out for the stadium and said he wasn't ready to respond to requests for funding underwrites understood to be up to $40m.

"There is a long way to go before we start signing up in the absence of the business plan," he told NZPA. "We just need to hold this with light hands at the moment." He said he understood such a plan was prepared, but was waiting to hear from Mr McCully and the trust board.

The council understood the need to ensure the project was completed on time and was confident that would happen and the event would be a success.

Mr Waller said the redevelopment was on track to be completed by its October deadline Mr McCully said he had spoken to a number of the mayors and was satisfied that they were working together.

It was up to the trustees to look at commercial sponsorship through naming the stadium -- "they have concerns about that as an option and I will leave it in their hands".

Meanwhile, Mr McCully said the Government had been briefed on temporary options for developing Queen's Wharf ahead of the Rugby World Cup.

These would be made public in the next day or two for consultation with final decisions made by the Auckland mayors.