JULY 2024
Teeing up the next link
This time last year the Southern Links project seemed another generation away - then National announced its roads of national significance. Senior writer Mary Anne Gill spoke to Finance Minister Nicola Willis about when construction might start.
our country because you have a primary production base, that has then evolved to have innovation, manufacturing and service industries. But what you also have got is entrepreneurial people.” Southern Links joins Waikato Expressway’s Cambridge to Piarere on the roads of national significance. The $100 million project will link SH1 from Kahikatea Drive in Hamilton to Tamahere, SH3 from Hamilton Airport to central and east Hamilton and establish a key transport in the city council’s Peacocke housing development. One of the two new bridges associated with it, in Hamilton East, is due to open later this year. Taupō MP Louise Upston whose electorate would benefit from Southern Links – as it would from the Waikato Expressway extension to Piarere – said unlocking housing growth, reducing congestion and improving safety were critical drivers. “Hamilton Southern Links will open up opportunities for districts in the Waikato to connect. It will allow people to get where they need to go, quickly and safely, and boost productivity and economic growth in our region,” she said. Waikato Regional Airport chief executive Mark Morgan said the ratepayer-owned company had been advocating for the project both locally and nationally for years. The development of its Northern Precinct industrial park north of the airport and Titanium Park would benefit from greater transport links, he told The News. “Southern Links is pivotal. There’s land bigger than Ruakura available for industrial. This is what Southern Links will unlock,
Nicola Willis stands in front of the Tīeke golf course’s 18th green with Mystery Creek and Fieldays in the background. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
CON TIN UED ON PAGE 2
Thinking of selling? Start here with a confidential call.
Glazing Services
$295,000
Hamilton
· Clientele includes property management firms · Consistent repeat business from renovation markets · Prime location & secure lease for two decades · Experienced team supports new owner’s transition linkbusiness.co.nz/WK00421 Therese Bailey 021 707 641 therese.bailey@linkbusiness.co.nz
Profitable Salon
Waikato
$115,000
· Established Salon since 2011 · Prime Main street Location · Working owner but clients welcome all stylist · Great range of premium products
linkbusiness.co.nz/WK00412 Scott Miller 027 301 6543 scott.miller@linkbusiness.co.nz
Floor Prep Business
Waikato
LINKBUSINESS.CO.NZ
$199,000
· Good cash-flow · Excellent Discretionary Earnings · Long established business and name · LOW overheads from work from home
linkbusiness.co.nz/WK00413 Andrew Whyte 022 097 0065 andrew.whyte@linkbusiness.co.nz
more demand
more enquiry more value BUY & SELL WITH THE BEST
0800 225 999
Wondering about the value of your business? Did you know there’s a free, easy to use business value calculator on the LINK website? It takes about 5 minutes to answer the questions and then receive a guide to the value of your business in the current market. This powerful tool draws on LINK’s extensive data around business sales by type and value and location, to deliver a useful and relevant appraisal of the value of your business.
Stop guessing! Visit linkbusiness.co.nz/business-value-appraisal
All LINK NZ offices are licensed REAA08
When Nicola Willis delivered the latest update on Southern Links to a hungry for information group of business people at Tīeke Golf Estate last month, the irony of the location was not lost on her. The internationally renowned 18-hole golf course - which borders Mystery Creek and the Waikato River - cost nearly $20 million to build with taxpayer funds. Six years ago, New Zealand Transport Agency bought The Narrows - one of Riverside Golf Club’s two golf courses for Southern Links, and the club used the money to redevelop its Lochiel course, renaming it Tīeke. Before National made Southern Links one of its roads of national significance, the project was decades away from starting even though NZTA had bought several hectares of land on its route. “It’s a priority for us. It’s one of the projects of national significance that we want to see delivered,” Willis told The News. “It’s a critical growth enabling project, that will allow for additional housing development, better freight delivery and enhance the productivity of this region and indeed the Waikato economy.” So, instead of 20-30 years away, design should start this Parliamentary term and construction be underway in four years. Willis told the Waikato Chamber of Commerce Budget breakfast – held at Tīeke on day two of Fieldays – better times were ahead. “You (Waikato) are a poster child for what can happen to productive and economic growth when people get a decent road. And here’s to the Waikato Expressway,” she said. “When I look at Hamilton, I think we have a region that represents what is possible for