Auckland mayoral candidate Phil Goff believes he has the commitment, integrity and skills to "bring the city together".
The Mt Roskill Labour MP yesterday unsurprisingly threw his hat into the ring for the super city leadership.
Mr Goff says one of the ways he would save money is through "cutting duplication and waste".
"I think there's a whole lot of that," he told the Paul Henry programme. "I think they're getting there, but they're getting there rather too slowly."
He says there are also areas that need more investment, and transport is "clearly" one of them.
"Let's take the City Rail Link… that will double the capacity of rail. Rail went up to 15 million passenger trips a year in the last year to November – that's a 22 percent increase."
The Government is thinking of funding the project in 2021, which is "too late", says Mr Goff.
"In 2018 Britomart [Transport Centre] will be congested in the late afternoon, you won't be able to fit more people into it," he says.
"You've got to talk to [the] Government and say, 'You cannot afford Auckland to fail, because if Auckland fails, New Zealand fails.' It's critical."
Watch the video for the full interview with Phil Goff.
