Board to form port company

Press, 12 June 1987, Page 26

Board to form port company

PA Wellington The Wellington Harbour Board has decided in a secret meeting to form itself into a port company as soon as the law permits, the “Dominion” newspaper reports. The decision, described by the board’s chairman, Mr Nigel Gould, as “the most far reaching in board history,” was taken with the doors closed and the public formally excluded.

There was no public notification of the meeting, the news media were told they could not attend and a board member, Mrs Hazel Bibby, walked out, the newspaper said. Mrs Bibby said she left the meeting because she was disgusted that the decisions were being made outside a public forum. She said it was laughable that the last clause in the board decision was to “encourage public debate” on the company plan.

Mr Gould said the issue had been discussed in private so that all the board members, especially the new ones, could be made fully aware of the issues, and to allow full discussion without constraint.

Wellington’s port is worth about $l2O million, of which about $3O million is land value.

Under the plan agreed to, the board wants to form the port operations into a company run by a separate board of appointed people with a strict commercial background. The Harbour Board would retain overall control as a board of directors, and would run the non-commercial or recreational facets.

“The industry is keen to see the companies formed and we see no reason why this is not in the best interest of this and other ports,” Mr Gould said./