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Gisborne will miss out on growth – we ‘should be angry’
Friday, October 05, 2012
GISBORNE people should be angry with the Government and Minister of Economic Development Steven Joyce for the shortsighted decision not to support the rail link, says Roger Dickie, spokesman for the Kyoto Forestry Association.

“Economic and employment growth will be hugely stalled by the loss of the rail line and, by association, the social infrastructure of the region will be severely impeded,” he said.

One significant business has canned plans to invest in the Gisborne region because of the forecast and now-confirmed closure of the rail line.

“Unfortunately, this will continue to happen and the residents of the region will never even know that they have missed out on future growth.”

The forests Mr Dickie is involved with amount to about 6 percent of the forestry in the Gisborne region and about 20 percent of forests south and west of Gisborne.

They would move at least some of their product towards Napier.

Mr Dickie said in six to eight years his company would have between 80 and 120 truck movements per day on the Gisborne-Napier Road.

“Combined with other forest owners, that could be 500 to 600 movements per day or about one truck every 1½ minutes during a 12-hour day.

“A very significant number of these truck movements could easily go by rail.”

Efficiency of rail from a fuel and environmental perspective was well known, Mr Dickie said.

Proof of the savings it could offer was the railing of logs from Wanganui to Napier (a similar distance to Gisborne-Napier).

After allowing for costs of trucking to the railhead, rail on the Wanganui-Napier link was $7 a tonne cheaper than trucking.

The Gisborne port is the second- biggest log export port in New Zealand but, unfortunately, is also by far the most expensive port to use in New Zealand — having the highest wharfage and log storage charges in New Zealand by a margin of 40 percent, he says.

“These exorbitant charges will be costing the region investment and jobs. Future growth of export industries in the Gisborne region will be severely curtailed by the loss of this rail link.”

Mr Dickie says this is a classic case of the silent majority sitting back and doing nothing because they think the closure of the rail link will not affect them.

“But everyone in the Gisborne region needs to realise the loss of this important economic link will affect them by way of fewer jobs for their siblings, less growth in the region and a diminished social infrastructure.”
Comments
Martin Hanson
10:11 a.m. Saturday, Oct 06, 2012
As long as New Zealanders continue to delude themselves into thinking that growth in a finite system can continue indefinitely, we will simply be ensuring that the inevitable overshoot will be that much worse. For those who can't bring themselves to grasp this simple fact, I recommend Richard Heinberg's book "The End of Growth".
Glenn Pilkington
08:45 a.m. Sunday, Oct 07, 2012
This Government has a love affair with roads. They don't know how to look outside the square, they rely on their spin doctors to tell them, and they aren't much better.
john
02:59 p.m. Saturday, Oct 06, 2012
OK Mr Hanson, so it's OK for the rest of New Zealand to have economic growth and for Gisborne to have none? Mr Dickie should be congratulated for a well thought out article. Eastland Port cannot exist in isolation, the ports of Tauranga and Napier both have rail access. Having no rail does not make Eastland Port more viable and long-term makes it less viable. The trees just will not be harvested and Gisborne will just become a carbon sink, so the Government can go to the UN and claim they are doing their bit for global warming.
Peter Jones
06:41 p.m. Monday, Oct 08, 2012
China uses 4 billion tonnes of coal a year. How are they going to double that?
Export-based economies like that can forget 10 percent growth per year.
The rest of New Zealand is dreaming and that is no excuse for us to do the same.
The only part John got right is the bit where he said the trees just will not be harvested. Heh heh.
And don't shoot me. I'm just the messenger.
Peter Jones
07:25 p.m. Tuesday, Oct 09, 2012
Here's Richard Heinberg hot off the press talking about Australia.
Here’s the situation in schematic. As economies in America and Europe stagnate due to high oil prices and too much debt, China’s exports to those countries dry up. Which means China needs less iron ore and coal from Australia.
No one is immune; the world is a system. And the system is undergoing a historic “correction.” Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid gave a bracing summary when he suggested the Western financial world might be “totally unsustainable”.
If policy makers continue assuming that the ongoing global reset is merely another turning of the business cycle, then we lose whatever opportunity still remains to prevent financial crisis from becoming social crisis (this is what I am trying to avert in Gisborne by encouraging investment in rail and electric power).
Unfortunately the idea that growth has limits is still a minority view. After all, in the “real” worlds of politics and economics, growth is essential to creating more jobs and increasing returns on investments. Questioning growth is like arguing against petrol at a Formula One race. If we focus on improving quality of life and protecting the environment rather than aiming to increase quantity of consumption, we could all be happier even as our economy downsizes to fit nature’s limits. But a gentle landing is unlikely absent intelligent policy and hard work.
What’s scarier still is the prospect that the economic costs of climate change could deliver the coup de grace to world economic growth sooner rather than later, as droughts and floods intensify worldwide.
John
05:43 p.m. Tuesday, Oct 09, 2012
It seems Mr Jones that you consider yourself the sole arbiter of what is a correct opinion. That you mention China's coal consumption and economy in reply to the topic of the Gisborne/Napier rail closure proves the lack of merit in your argument. Fellow readers, I rest my case!
Peter Jones
09:26 a.m. Wednesday, Oct 10, 2012
I'm simply pointing out that we are part of a bigger picture that is basically out of our control.
The things we should be able to control, like what kind of infrastructure we borrow money for, are seemingly also out of our control.
I'm just giving my five cents worth John. Good on you for speaking up for the rail. "Having no rail does not make Eastland Port more viable and long-term makes it less viable." This point you make is also spot on as far as I'm concerned.
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