He said the announcements provided clarity and certainty around funding and wanted this to pave the way for action.
“The Government is committed to the recovery of our local roading networks. We understand how important that is to this region post-Cyclone Gabrielle, and it’s really important we have close alignment between government, MPs, and mayors,” he said.
He confirmed that “absolutely,” mayors were on the same page, working closely to ensure a recovery programme was in place, but communication issues with the Transport Rebuild East Coast alliance needed to be worked on.
“I think the key thing is they want to see things getting on and getting done.
“There is a need for better communication between TREC, local mayors, local MPs and the community, which we’ve talked about and will take steps to make sure that is happening in a much more open and transparent manner.”
Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said that while detailed work needed to be done with NZTA on the allocation of funding to programmes, she believed the Government had responded positively to the region’s roading needs. According to NZTA, $91m was earmarked for Hawke’s Bay in year one.
“We are grateful for the hearing we have had to date, and the subsequent action taken,” she said.
When pressed on the fate of the much-promised four-lane expressway for Hawke’s Bay, Brown reaffirmed his commitment to the project as a government “priority” and said further announcements would be made at a later date.
“We’ve prioritised that in our Government policy statement as one of our roads of national significance. Decisions will be made as part of the national land transport programme, which will be determined by August/September.
“From our perspective, it’s one of our top priorities in our national roads of significance programme. The agency has already started looking at the designation and how it can be staged, and how it can get up and running as quickly as possible.”
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little described the meeting as “positive” but later expressed concerns, particularly about the future of the Napier-Wairoa road’s Waikare deviation, which had been expected to start this year.
After extensive consultation, NZTA settled on a deviation that included about 4km of new road and a bridge over the Waikare Gorge.
This bypassed both the SH2 Waikare River bridge (a temporary Bailey bridge replacing the permanent structure destroyed in Cyclone Gabrielle) and the township of Putorino just to the south.
With an estimated cost of about $250m, a preferred route was agreed upon, and planning was complete. The relevant resource consents were applied 13 months ago. While attracting no opposition, formal decisions on the applications are still awaited.
Little said that, with most aspects of the plan for the deviation in place before the cyclone, it would be disappointing for Wairoa and Hawke’s Bay if the deviation did not go with the finance and timeframe as planned and funds were spent maintaining the gorge road and temporary bridge.
”We’ve got to start looking at the cost of what we don’t do rather than what is being done,” he said.
Brown said the regional land transport plan, which will be set by August and September, would include the proposition of the new Waikare Gorge realignment.
“NZTA were looking at whether or not there was going to be additional funding needed to get that sorted, so there are more steps that need to be done, but the funding delivered by the Government will go towards full recovery of the state highway between Napier and Wairoa.”
Decisions on the national land transport programme would ultimately be made by the NZTA board.
“Councils will be providing their input into that, and the board will have to consider all different opportunities,” Brown said.
Mitchell Hageman joined Hawke’s Bay Today in January 2023. From his Napier base, he writes regularly on social issues, arts and culture, and the community.
