https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hans...o-10-transport
Chris Bishop: Why did the New Zealand Transport Agency not reallocate all of the $313 million straight back into the State highway improvements activity class, when that activity class has been cut by $5 billion over the next decade, meaning that critical projects like the Tauranga Northern Link, Melling interchange, and Ōtaki to Levin have been cancelled or delayed?
Hon PHIL TWYFORD: .....the member's broader point is that there is a list of projects that are ready to fund, including safety upgrades and including State highway projects, but this Government is not going to give a blank cheque to a dozen motorway projects that were promised by the last Government, and
all but two of them were not funded or designated. They are ghost roads.
Chris Bishop: Does he stand by his comment that the 12 re-evaluated projects he's just mentioned have very low economic value; if so, why?
Hon PHIL TWYFORD: It's my view that very few, if any, of those—the second generation so-called roads of national significance that National promised—would exceed a benefit-cost ratio of one.
They weren't funded.
They weren't designated, with a couple of exceptions.
They were campaign promises—the worst of pork-barrel politics. Meanwhile, this Government is getting on with investing—for example, $1.4 billion in safety upgrades across 3,500 kilometres of roading network that will save 160 deaths and serious injuries every year.
Chris Bishop: Is he seriously saying to the House that projects like the Tauranga Northern Link—which was funded, consented, and out for procurement—and projects like the Melling interchange and the Ōtaki to Levin project—
Hon Simon Bridges: Can the Minister confirm that the Tauranga Northern Link was approved for funding by the then NZTA board, and can he also confirm that nothing else needs to happen, short of signing the cheque?
Hon PHIL TWYFORD: The Tauranga Northern Link was—
the route was designated, but it was not funded under the last Government.
Chris Bishop: Is he seriously saying that those important projects are of low economic value?
Hon PHIL TWYFORD: What I'm saying—and
the member's quite wrong in his question—is the Tauranga Northern Link was
designated but not a single cent was allocated to it in National's last plan—not a single cent.
Bookmarks