Bay of Plenty gets windfall of $150m for road projects

The Bay of Plenty yesterday received a $150 million windfall from the Government for urgently needed transport projects over 10 years.

"It came literally out of the blue," Tauranga City Mayor Stuart Crosby said after the announcement by Transport Minister Pete Hodgson.

The extra money is expected to be matched dollar for dollar from local authority levies, rates and investments.

Said Mr Hodgson: "Today is the day that the Bay of Plenty got ahead of the curve, especially the Western Bay but also Rotorua, the Eastern Bay and the land transport links between them.

"Tomorrow is the day you start to work out what gets built when."

He said the region's leaders had told him the Bay was "jumping" and they wanted to avoid it "snarling up" like Auckland.

The region is the third to be given a one-off roading boost - Auckland received $950 million and Wellington $225 million.

The unexpected bonus came at the same time as Mr Hodgson announced that the Cabinet had approved the tolling of Tauranga's planned $244 million Harbour Link project, which includes a duplicate harbour bridge and a four-lane expressway linking Tauranga and Mt Maunganui.

Half the capital cost will come from the National Land Transport Fund, with Transit New Zealand borrowing the other half and paying it back from tolls.

Mr Hodgson said that with tolling, the bridge should open in 2009. Tolls would be capped at no more than $2 a car and $4 a truck. They would probably be lower in off-peak times.

The new link - to be designated a state highway - was the second project to be approved for part-tolling. The first was the Northern Motorway extension from Orewa to Puhoi.

Citing the Bay's "extraordinary" economic and population growth, Mr Hodgson said the $150 million injection was the result of the well-planned approach by regional leaders and was in addition to Government funding already available for transport.

"The needs of the region are many and the costs of not getting ahead of the projected growth are considerable," he said.

Mr Crosby said the Harbour Link was a critical part of the region's strategic roading network, which needed alternative funding sources such as tolling for its "timely completion". It was seen as vital to the area's 50-year SmartGrowth strategy.

Although Bay of Plenty mayors and United Future MP Larry Baldock welcomed the package, Tauranga MP Winston Peters said if the harbour bridge was a state highway it should be fully funded by the Government, not tolled.

Said National Party transport spokesman Maurice Williamson: "One-off announcements of largess are not the way to fund roading.

"No doubt a Waikato package will be announced soon," he added.

Tauranga's Tolls Action Group spokesman, Ross Linney, asked why none of the $150 million was going towards Harbour Link when the shortfall to be met by tolls over 35 years was only about $100 million.