Aucklanders will still have to cough up for roads

Auckland ratepayers will still have to dig deep to get the city out of its roading crisis in spite of the Budget's roading boost, says Mayor Dick Hubbard.

Finance Minister Michael Cullen announced an additional $1.3 billion yesterday to speed up roading projects around the country, including several crucial Auckland projects.

However, Mr Hubbard said today that would not be enough.

He said there was still much work to be done on public transport in the city but that could not be done without work on the roading system and one was as essential as the other.

"We are getting to high altitude base camp on it but we are not at the top."

Completing State Highway 20, the western by-pass, was expensive and it would cost $1 billion to complete the connection from Avondale to the northwestern motorway.

Mr Hubbard said with the by-pass 90 per cent completed the missing link was "no use to anyone. You just have to bite the bullet on that".

He said there was a great deal of money to be spent on arterial roads. It had yet to be decided how they would be funded but the unpalatable fact for Aucklanders was that they would have to dig deep.

"I think it is going to have to be a partnership with Government."

He said Dr Cullen was still looking at additional regional petrol taxes but there could also be road tolls.

Auckland Regional Council might be asked for funds, although it was considered to be asset-rich and cash-poor.

He said the Budget addressed the frustration of many Aucklanders who felt for too long that a lot of the road taxes raised in Auckland was spent elsewhere in the country.

- NZPA