Deep sea port considered

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32657, 13 July 1971, Page 14

Deep sea port considered

(Prom Our Own Reporter) WESTPORT, July 12. The Buller Joint Committee will probably meet in the next few days to consider what action to take on a Wellington report that a Government committee has recommended against the construction of a deep sea port on the West Coast.

The committee, comprising top officials of several departments, was set up by the Government last year to investigate and report on a Buller regional development plan. It is understood that the report will be released when the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr Shelton) returns to New Zealand from his three-week Asian tour. The committee has studied a number of proposals put forward for the development of a major new port required for the export of coal, ilmenite and wood products, but for various economic and technical reasons, the officials committee found that such a project was not feasible. The report is believed to argue that it would be more economic to rail exports to Lyttelton and ship them from there. This would have the advantage of using existing facilities and free capital for the development of exportoriented industries that have already been mooted for Buller and Westland. The report reaches a favourable conclusion about the economic prospects for new industries based on the region.

The secretary of the Buller i Joint Committee (Mr S. G.. O’Keefe) had no comment to make on the report today. However, he said he hoped to discuss a possible meeting of the joint committee with the chairman (Mr W. A. Craddock). The regional development proposal submitted to the Government last September is based on the concept of deepwater facilities at Westport. Japanese experts, after examining information about the area, acknowledged that a deep sea port was feasible.