Wellington shouldn't carry $100m cost of 'Key's love affair with pandas' – councillor

Wellington councillor Paul Eagle wants to put the brakes on a plan to bring giant pandas to the capital.

Wellington City Council Deputy Mayor Justin Lester is launching an investigation into the businesses case for giant pandas being housed at the Wellington zoo.

Prime Minister John Key has come out in support of the idea.

"We've seen his love affair with pandas. I don't want the ratepayers of Wellington picking up the tab for that. It's just not a priority at this time," Mr Eagle says.

The councillor points to a 2011 scoping study (abandoned after the Christchurch quakes saw a change of focus) that put the cost of housing the pandas at the zoo at $28 million. Then there are the costs of acquiring the pandas, getting them to New Zealand (with an entourage of Chinese keepers) and marketing expenses. All up, Mr Eagle says the exercise could cost between $50 million and $100 million.

Mr Eagle says if Auckland Zoo wants the pandas, it's welcome to them — but he warns that after initial excitement, a giant panda exhibit at Adelaide Zoo ended up contributing to a $24 million debt. The buzz will fade but costs will remain for a decade.

Wellington blogster Ian Apperley is also willing to stand up in opposition, and risk being called a panda-hater.

“First we had the promise of long-haul airlines migrating to Wellington because of the airport extension, then we had the promise of convention centres falling from the sky with conferences popping up like mushrooms," he tells NBR ONLINE.

"Now we have the promise of tourists stampeding into Wellington as if it were Mecca because of giant pandas. The WCC hasn’t delivered on one item in the Long Term Plan and they are already diverting away on to these new panda, erm, pet projects. This is about election year coming. It’s already starting.”

Me, I'd love to see giant pandas at Auckland Zoo, but I would also be dubious about the economics. With young kids, I often go to the zoo, and like most families we have an annual pass covering unlimited visits. We’d go to gawk at the pandas, but the zoo wouldn't make a cent more out of us.

Mr Key has suggested a kiwi-panda exchange to help keep costs down. That gets two thumbs up from me. The kiwis (almost always in hiding) are the most boring zoo exhibit in Auckland. There is no way they can do this:

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