Fix broken roads before National’s ‘grand plan’

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Wow. Doesn’t the National Party grand plan to build a four-lane 382km highway from Whangarei to Tauranga sound wonderful? I can’t imagine how they will deliver it for $6 billion, though, considering that a 2km road in Tauranga was to cost $70m per km but will end up costing more due to challenges. For the Nats’ plan there will be challenges like the Kaimais or the Karangahake Gorge and Athenree Gorge to overcome as well.
To date every one of the Nats’ roading projects have cost much more than the original projected funding. Then there are the potholes on the Kapiti, Southern link and Waikato expressways. If they hand over the roads in public-private partnerships we’ll be lining shareholder pockets and even have tolls.
Tax breaks to landlords and tax cuts for the wealthy will cost $billions, but the Nats claim underfunding in health, education, crime fighting and infrastructure, so where do they think the money will come from to avoid services being cut? The $2.15 a week for those on a pension or minimum wages won’t cover what will be taken.
In the meantime our Labour Govt has a much more practical approach to improving roading in Aotearoa and is spending on needs rather than nice-to-haves. We need to fix what is broken rather than spending $billions extra on roads we can’t afford just yet. 
Northland, Coromandel, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Nelson and several other areas hit by cyclones and bad weather have more urgent needs just to get back to square one. I haven’t noticed that there has been a #nznationalparty announcement about fixing our local needs.
Mary-Ann de Kort