Greens' pressure blocks roads in Auckland and Wellington

By AUDREY YOUNG, Political Editor


Pressure from the Greens is delaying two large roading projects in Wellington and Auckland.

Transfund is due to announce today delays to the $139 million Mt Roskill extension of State Highway 20 and the $30 million Wellington City bypass.

The projects are two of six that Transit NZ, the state motorways manager, has already reviewed.

The Mt Roskill extension is a key element in completing a motorway link from the south to the west of Auckland.

Former Chief Ombudsman Sir Brian Elwood reviewed the projects and is understood to have approved them all - a result that upset the Greens and raised a few eyebrows in the Government.

Transfund, which finances Transit roading plans, is expected to ask Transit to assess the two projects more thoroughly in terms of the new Land Transport Management Act.

Political sources suggest the Green Party pressed for another review of the two projects, using as leverage the fact that the minority Government might need its support for other aspects of transport policy - such as the 5.6c-a-litre increase in petrol tax and possibly some social policy legislation.

Auckland Mayor John Banks said last night that he would be angry if the Mt Roskill project were delayed.

"It has been on the books for 50 years," he said. "Any more delays by these kind of tactics would be seen as outrageous."

If the Greens were behind the delay "they will have me to contend with".

Mr Banks said the project was well overdue.

The Government had given extra money to complete such projects, he said, referring to the petrol tax and other grants which will give Auckland $1.62 billion over 10 years.

Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons denied that the Greens had broken their rule of not trading between issues.

The party could not be seen to vote against social issues it supported, but "we negotiate hard within issues".

Asked whether the Mt Roskill extension complied with the new act, she said elements a review would have to look at included:

* Whether alternatives were properly examined.

* Whether affected communities were properly consulted.

* Whether the proposed road met the act's social and environmental objectives.

* Whether it was part of an integrated system.

The extension proposed went from Hillsborough to Mt Albert, then stopped, she said.

"You'd need to be clear before you built that bit that you were also going to build the next bit that joins on to it. I don't know whether that has been thoroughly looked at."

Prime Minister Helen Clark last night welcomed the review, but suggested it would not stop the Mt Roskill project, which cuts into her Mt Albert electorate.

"The whole idea of the review was to review those projects against the new Land Transport Management Act," she said, "so it would be unusual if the two most sensitive of them were simply ticked off as though there were no new act."

Roading delay

* Work was expected to start last summer on State Highway 20 Mt Roskill extension.

* The $139 million 4km extension from Queenstown Rd to Richardson Rd is to have motorway overbridges, pedestrian paths and cycleways.

* The original completion date was 2006.