Dialogue: More than cash needed to get wheels turning

MICHAEL BARNETT* says the biggest barrier to ending Auckland's transport woes is still there, and transport will remain an issue for Aucklanders at the general election this year.

Now the Government has recognised, as a matter of urgency, that Auckland must be given all the money it needs to tackle its transport problems, you would be forgiven for believing the region can get on and build the major incomplete sections of the transport network that have existed on plans since the 1970s.

But a closer look reveals that the key to faster progress has not yet been delivered.

There is every sign of Auckland still facing a tough fight to get the Government to focus on what lies behind the legacy of inaction on Auckland transport projects, as well as others around the country.

It is not money that is holding up completion of Auckland's motorway network; it is resource consent.

It is not money that has delayed for six years the North Shore busway project; it is a consent process that has involved 13 designations and more than 20 resource management hearings.

In the same time, Melbourne has designed and built a 7km, multi-lane, tolled highway costing close on $500 million.

The same has been achieved in Brisbane and Sydney.

Meanwhile, Auckland battles on trying to kick-start a first-world (knowledge-based?) economy on a third-world transport infrastructure.

I don't go quite as far as Act's transport spokesman Penny Webster in saying that Auckland has been conned by the Government's plan, or National transport spokeswoman Belinda Vernon's view of it as nothing more than promises of things to come.

But if the follow-up to unblock the consent drain is not quickly forthcoming, all the hard work put in by the Government to respond to the calls of the Auckland mayoral and business forums and other groups will be wasted.

Unquestionably, statements and briefings by Prime Minister Helen Clark and Minister of Transport Mark Gosche before the plan's unveiling raised strong expectations of a government looking forward to working with the Auckland Mayoral Forum to address all the blockages holding back the region's key transport projects.

The mayoral forum's package, which the Prime Minister referred to positively in her statement to Parliament in last month, makes clear what the blockages are - financial constraints and resource management processes.

To quote from the now public mayoral forum document what is undisputed fact: the current consent process results in unnecessary delays due to a multiplicity of public consultation, submission processes and hearing proceedings.

To deliver these strategic projects effectively, a single and comprehensive resource management procedure is required.

Gosche has publicly confirmed that legislation will be passed before the election to enable private-sector financing and toll options.

That is great news, and worth all the applause that has been given. The consequences of the Government's failing to deliver on time on this aspect of the plan will clearly result in predictable political as well as economic and social fall-out; Auckland's progress will needlessly be set back many more years. No worries - a smart government will deliver.

But the second leg of the double is of greater importance if the financial leg is to get traction.

A single, rationalised procedure for dealing with all the resource management consents is required at local and regional level.

To reduce the years of delay associated with the consent process, the mayoral forum has asked the Government to consider giving councils the ability to refer these projects directly to the Environment Court for its determination and to allow the court to call for public submissions in these cases.

And the Government's response? Well, it was not part of Gosche's transport package.

Here is the worry. This aspect is interdependent with the financial constraint and needs to be picked up quickly by someone in Government.

Otherwise Gosche's and Clark's clarion calls of endorsement for getting Auckland moving forward again will backfire - politically as well as economically and socially.

* Michael Barnett is chief executive of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Auckland Business Forum.