English riding out with plan to fix Auckland jams

Bill English is planning to get caught up in Auckland's rush hour traffic this morning to launch National's transport policy.

The farmer from Dipton - traffic count one tractor every 15 minutes - is taking a bus along the notorious stretch of motorway at Spaghetti Junction - daily clog 200,000 vehicles - with a promise to fix Auckland's traffic jams.

National is planning special legislation to fast-track completion of the Auckland motorway network, which has been costed at $5.9 billion. Congestion in Auckland is estimated to cost business $1 billion a year.

The legislation would allow private-public partnerships to build toll roads and infrastructure for public transport. The party would also amend the Resource Management Act to reduce the time it takes for strategic roads to win approval.

The Prime Minister and MP for Mt Albert, Helen Clark, promised legislation before the election to implement a $227 million Moving Forward transport package, including toll roads, but it got stalled.

Helen Clark has acknowledged a bottleneck of projects in Auckland require a lot of cash and has said she is personally in favour of toll roads where there is an alternative route.

Last week, the Automobile Association complained that delays caused by the Resource Management Act meant the State Highway 20 project through the Prime Minister's electorate would not be open to the public until 2015.

Environment Minister Marian Hobbs has ruled out more tinkering with the Resource Management Act, saying a lot of work had gone into managing cases more effectively.

It has also emerged during the election campaign that the Government and Tranz Rail are holding discussions that may ultimately lead to taxpayers buying back the national track network - after the Government paid Tranz Rail $81 million for the Auckland rail corridor on behalf of Auckland councils in December.

Nationalisation is not the Government's preference, but officials acknowledge that it may have to be considered early next year.

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