NS City should provide the citizen’s referendum on the sale of Techscape

Councillor Tony Holman (NST 4/8/2006) has made an extremely pertinent point regarding another sale of NSC ratepayers’ assets; Techscape. North Shore residents should recall the pasting we took when Council sold our Auckland airport (AIA ) shares. In 1991, North Shore City sold our 7.1 percent stake (30 million shares) in Auckland Airport to Singapore Changi Airport Enterprises Pte Limited at $2.90 per share. AIA shares, already up 5c ahead of the initial announcement immediately rose a further 8c to $2.93 on the news. Later Auckland City received $4.90. After only two years Changi sold the stake reaping a profit of around $20.4 million. The shares are now worth an equivalent $8.36 allowing for the four for one share split last year.

It seems that the AIA sale decision has cost the ratepayer about 165 million plus dividends. This would have gone a long way towards funding many of the City’s projects. This incident should serve as a warning. It is easy to predict that the sale of Techscape will contribute to large increases in the costs of residents’ water and waste water; not to recover costs but to fund company profits. We don’t want to embark on the limited survey that preceded the AIA share sale. However, If the council remains confident in its decision then provide the citizen’s referendum as proposed by Councillor Holman.