English's answer: more roads

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The National Party wants to build more motorways in Auckland because it does not believe public transport can make a dent in traffic congestion.

Party leader Bill English yesterday hitched his party's Auckland transport policy to the agenda of completing the motorway network by 2008.

"Patronage in public transport is so small that even if it grows expeditiously it is going to take a long time to make an impact on congestion on the roads," Mr English said.

He was unimpressed by figures that show the number of daily public transport commuters increased by 21.3 per cent in the past year and doubled in the past 10 years. "Even at those growth rates it will take a long, long time to have an impact on congestion".

Mr English was speaking to journalists on a coach ride along a section of the Southern Motorway just before 9am. But instead of getting snarled up in the morning traffic to make a point, the coach glided through one of the worst bottlenecks in Auckland at a steady 50km/h to 70km/h.

National plans to bring some "urgency" to dealing with congestion in Auckland by legislating to allow private-public partnerships to build toll roads and by amending the Resource Management Act (RMA) to reduce the time it takes for strategic roads to win approval.

The public would still have the opportunity to comment on environmental issues but National wants the process to be dealt with in two to three years rather than the seven or eight years it can take at present.

National would also allow Government agencies such as Transfund to borrow money to speed up spending on completing the Auckland motorway network, which has been costed at $5.9 billion.

Transfund has a fixed annual budget - $1.1 billion - of which $320 million is earmarked for Auckland. Labour has promised legislation to allow for private toll roads where an alternative route exists but has ruled out more tinkering with the Resource Management Act.

Mr English said projections showed that the Auckland motorway network would not be complete until at least 2014 and RMA hold-ups would delay the completion of State Highway 20 (through Mt Roskill and Mt Albert) until 2015.

National's policy bears a close resemblance to the mayoral plan to complete the network by 2008 and the wishlist of two pro-road business groups, the Auckland Business Forum and the Roads Before Rail Trust.

The policy contains nothing new for public transport, just a continuation of Labour's policy of state contributions based on passenger numbers and funding access to public transport for people who depend on it.

Mr English denied National had been captured by big business.

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