KEY POINTS:
Strong public support for a tolled road to Whangaparaoa Peninsula is mingled with some nervousness that financial risk may fall on ratepayers rather than private developers.
The Rodney District Council has had more than 1200 submissions for a proposal to charge motorists up to $2.50 to use a 7km road it wants to build for $160 million between the motorway and the peninsula.
The deadline is Thursday,
The road, known as Penlink, will include south-facing ramps to and from the motorway at Redvale, a bridge over the Weiti River just north of Stillwater, and an intersection with Whangaparaoa Rd about 2km west of the peninsula's town centre.
Although the council has yet to start analysing submissions, spokesman Mike Isle said yesterday that early indications pointed to heavy support for the plan.
Independent commissioners would hold hearings before an Order-in-Council was sought from the Government for a tolled road to be built as a public-private partnership.
The council hopes to obtain a 58 per cent subsidy from Land Transport NZ and says it has had more than 10 inquiries from developers, including some from overseas, interested in putting up the rest of the money in return for collecting tolls.
It says the new road will save motorists at least 15 minutes each way in peak traffic and six minutes in free-flowing conditions.
But Whangaparaoa-based councillor Colin MacGillivray, although insisting he favours toll roads as long as their business cases stack up, expressed concern that public consultation material appeared to suggest some contribution from rates.
It referred to a final funding package "including what's required from the private sector, development contributions and rates, if any".
That contradicted councillors' understanding that no rates money would be used to build the road.
Mr Isle acknowledged that the consultation material might look more open-ended than intended, but said the council stood by its intention to build the road from external sources.
That was not enough to appease Whangaparaoa Residents and Ratepayers' Association president Tom Parsons, who last night pointed to a question in the material asking people if they understood the council could not build the road without borrowing from an external source such as a public-private partner and repaying the debts from tolls.
"Suddenly the position is that Rodney will assume a debt payable to the developer ... The developer takes no risk, the economic risk is all on ratepayers' shoulders - this is new."
But Penlink Now chairwoman Janet Fitzgerald said she was confident the council would negotiate a watertight deal protecting ratepayers.
