War tunnel offers savings | Northland News | Local News in Northland

A secret World War II tunnel constructed under Whangarei Harbour could save ratepayers millions of dollars and do away with the need for a new bridge.

Peacetime investigations by a group of researchers recently proved the long-rumoured tunnel existed. Work is under way to find out what is needed to get the well-built tunnel fully operational.

Researcher Aperira Hakawa said initial investigations led him to believe that it would only cost a few million dollars to convert the tunnel into Whangarei's newest harbour crossing.

It's understood that the tunnel, built between 1940 and 1944 from a still-secret site at Bream Bay to Whangarei Heads, would be wide enough for four traffic lanes and a cycle track.

Last year the tunnel was rediscovered by accident after Mr Hakawa and a group of WWII researchers found long-hidden Defence documents referring to a tunnel constructed to transport troops and equipment under the harbour in case of an invasion by Japanese forces.

Four months of searching for the entrance proved fruitless, until a pig hunter's dog fell into the tunnel entrance on the Heads side of the harbour.

Once it was established this was the secret tunnel, he said, clandestine work has been going on to clear the northern entrance.

"Obviously nobody had been down there for more than 60 years, as it was kept pretty hush-hush at the time and only a handful of people in Defence knew about it and were sworn to secrecy," Mr Hakawa said.

"Let's just say we were surprised at how good a condition it was still in and they did a tremendous job constructing it in secret to such a high standard."

So where to from now?

Defence officials are keeping quiet on the tunnel.

An announcement of the rediscovery is expected to be made in Parliament next week.

Yesterday, council officials were declining to comment, but work is being done to see if it can be used as the vital link in a coastal highway taking tourists all the way up Whangarei's coast.