Auckland's mayor says the city has an opportunity to build its own Statue of Liberty.

Phil Goff believes a proposed 50-metre statue to welcome visitors to Auckland could become as iconic as New York's Lady Liberty.

The statue would be of the Maori Earth Mother figure Papatūānuku - and would be built at Bastion Point.

READ MORE: Statue of Papatūānuku the Earth Mother proposed for Bastion Point

Auckland Council will contribute a million dollars for design and development work.

Auckland mayor Phil Goff says the council has a fund set aside each year for public works of art.

"This would probably be a more prominent work of art than anything else that we've invested in previously," Goff says.

"Ngāti Whātua are very clearly making an investment here."

The Mayor says Ngāti Whātua will not just be looking for Council money if the statue gets the go-ahead.

"They would be looking at other potential sponsors," he says.

Goff also thinks corporate and other groups will get behind the proposal once they see the concept plan.

"The idea is to create something that we could say represented [and] symbolised our city as an icon that we could feel comfortable with and proud of."