February 01, 2022
Light rail to unlock Māori suburbs, new homes
Auckland mayor Phil Goff says suburbs with large numbers of Māori and Pacific Islanders will be major beneficiaries of a new rapid transit network.
The Government last week opted for a $14.6 billion plan to build light rail to the airport combining underground and surface tracks.
Mr Goff says without decent public transit, the intensification of housing in suburbs like Mangere, Onehunga and Mt Roskill will be a wasted effort.
“In that corridor from the Auckland city centre to Mangere and the industrial precinct around the airport, we are planning there will be new homes built for around 200,000 extra people, a quarter of the total foreseeable growth of Auckland’s population,” he says.
Phil Goff says without a rapid transit system, the city will eventually grind to a halt.