Plan for Wellington terminal to begin

Press, 12 October 1985, Page 13

Plan for Wellington terminal to begin

PA Wellington Construction of a new domestic terminal at Wellington Airport has came a step closer. The Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Prebble, announced that the Cabinet had approved in principle the construction of a terminal and had authorised the preparation of working drawings. The working drawings would take about a year to prepare and it might then be possible to call building tenders, he said. The new terminal would

be built between the existing terminal and the international building. Mr Prebble said that the existing terminal was a “disgrace.” No estimate of the total cost of a new terminal had been made but a figure of $2O million had been estimated some time ago he said. The Wellington City Council’would have to improve its earlier proposal. The airport was now much busier. The council earlier this year told the Government that if the Government

would accept a number of measures, it would be prepared to agree to run the terminal and build a new one on an equal share basis. The Government had met those requirements which included legislation being introduced within the next 12 months to enable the new terminal to be financed without expense to the ratepayer or taxpayer, Mr Prebble said. The legislation would include the levying of differential charges on users (the airlines).