Govt withdraws request for airport payouts

Press, 17 March 1987, Page 3

Govt withdraws request for airport payouts

Wellington reporter

The Government has withdrawn its request for dividend payments from provincial airports. A total of $1,602,000 had been sought from the reserve funds of Hamilton, New Plymouth, Nelson, Invercargill, Hawke’s Bay and Rotorua, said the Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Prebble, yesterday. Airport authorities at these centres had asked the Government to leave its money in, to help finance future airport capital works, he said.

The Government had concluded that these authorities had put forward a strong case, and it recognised the value of airports to regional development.

Mr Prebble also said that arguments over airport reserves had clouded the issue of airport management. This was another reason for the Government’s withdrawing its request, Mr Prebble said.

“The Government hopes that the relevant local authorities will now look seriously at the ad-

vantages of a Company management structure,” he said. Mr Prebble has also said that the .Government’s request for an immediate payout from Auckland International Airport of $42 million has been withdrawn. •

The money was to have come from the ’Crown’s share of the .airport’s reserves.

Describing the move as a sign of good faith, Mr Prebble said that the grounds for the Auckland Regional Authority’s court case against the;Government had been removed. “I am confident that the Labour Government is now very close to achieving the objective of successive Governments to put Auckland Airport on a sound business-like basis,” he said. Mr Prebble said that last week a proposed agreement had been reached with Auckland local body representatives.

This agreement covered the ownership and the future of the $lOO millionplus airport reserves, with the local body representatives agreeing that the

taxpayers owned more than half the reserves and were entitled to a dividend.

“The Government, for its part, has waived its claim to own 74 per cent of the assets of Auckland Airport and, provided an airport company is set up, it will be on a 50-50 basis,” he said.

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Mr Gair, said yesterday that the dropped demand for $42 million had solved nothing. The move was merely an acceptance of the reality that the Government would not have received the money by the end of the month.

“His ploy is now to say he does not want the money straight away. Rather, the company structure should be set up first. Then he would take the money later,” Mr Gair said.

The chairman of the Auckland Regional Authority’s airport committee, Mr lan Bullock, said the A.R.A. could strike no deal with the Government on the airport’s future until the wish of the majority of regional local authorities was known.