Banks expects Government to pay up for eastern expressway

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Auckland City Mayor John Banks is scoffing at claims ratepayers will be overburdened by a grandiose eastern expressway project, saying the Government will be obliged to dig deep.

But he is reluctant to put figures on possible toll charges to repay potential private investment partners, despite being quoted initially as suggesting $5 and then pruning this to $2.50.

Mr Banks said yesterday that he did not envisage either his or Manukau City's ratepayers becoming "significant contributors" to a project which consultants say could cost almost $4 billion.

That was because he believed the project was of sufficient national interest for the Government to join private investors in funding the lion's share, despite its existing commitment of $6.62 billion to Auckland transport in the next 10 years.

He said there was already a $3.4 billion shortfall for current proposals, without counting the eastern corridor, but he hoped to persuade the Government to allow tolls to be extended to existing roads and the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Mr Banks was responding to a claim by rival mayoral candidate Christine Fletcher that Auckland ratepayers risked paying a disproportionate share of costs for the expressway, which will include up to six general traffic lanes and two bus lanes.

Her claim was based on a report by project director Grant Kirby that the cost would be split between the Auckland and Manukau city areas on a ratio of about 80:20.


Auckland residents would shoulder the heaviest financial burden for a project from which commercial transport operators and commuters from Howick and Pakuranga would gain the greatest benefits, said Mrs Fletcher.


Other civic leaders are also nervous about the eastern corridor.

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey said he was worried the eastern corridor would siphon off money needed for double rail tracks to his city, and for completing the western motorway link.

Mr Banks said he was waiting for the Deloitte consultancy to report next week on funding options before being able to talk about toll charges for the proposed expressway.

Asked about a consultants' report in 2002 which estimated that tolls would raise less than $100 million of the projected cost, Mr Banks said there were plenty of interested investors.


Meanwhile, Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis faces political heat from a challenger for the Manukau mayoralty, Len Brown, who accused him yesterday of trying to pre-empt strategic decisions about his city's transport future.

Mr Brown said congestion along Ti Rakau Drive was being exaggerated as a major reason for Manukau's participation in the corridor project, because of a $40 million proposed link to the Southern Motorway from a new industrial estate in East Tamaki.

But the most controversial section of the project remains the Auckland end, where consultants have left it to the project steering group to choose between tunnels under Parnell and an expressway across Hobson Bay.