Cost of fixing Auckland roads $8b, says National

By AUDREY YOUNG

National says the cost of fixing Auckland's roading problems may be far larger that thought - and the rest of the country may have to help pay for it.

Leader Don Brash said a policy caucus meeting in Wellington yesterday heard that the cost of completing Auckland's roading network plan from 1963 could be as high as $8 billion - other estimates had put it between $4 billion and $5 1/2 billion.

The plan did not include another harbour bridge crossing or the eastern corridor - at least a further $3.5 billion.

The Government has not yet announced how it plans to fund an estimated $4 billion shortfall to meet the roading needs of Auckland in the next 10 years, but its package may involve increased fuel taxes, road tolls, and congestion charges.

If National's calculations are right, the shortfall could be much higher than $4 billion.

Helensville MP and deputy finance spokesman John Key made a transport presentation to a caucus meeting yesterday.

Dr Brash said he hoped to have developed a credible package before Christmas on how to fund the expenditure needed - which Aucklanders would need to only partly contribute to because it had gone without in the past.

"It is very clear that over the last decade, perhaps longer, Auckland has got less than its fair share of central government road funding.

"If you look at Auckland's share of GDP or Auckland's share of population you are looking at numbers between 30 and 33 per cent somewhere.

"Auckland's share of central government roading has been significantly less than that for at least the last 10 years.

"The whole country pays a cost when Auckland's growth is impeded by congestion. So we all gain by having that situation sorted out."