Key nabs $50m for national cycleway

John Key

Prime Minister John Key has bossed his deputy, Bill English, into giving him the exact amount of funding down to the dollar for his pet project.

The $50 million will go towards the national cycleway, which will begin as a series of "Great Rides" and develop from there, Mr Key said yesterday.

Just five weeks ago, Mr English, the Finance Minister, said the cycleway would get nothing like that kind of funding.

"We won't be spending $50 million on it this year or next year or the year after," he said.

The $50 million figure is also exactly the same as that first put forward at February's Job Summit in Manukau City, which the Prime Minister said at the time was a "rough back-of-a-piece-of-paper determination".

Yesterday, Mr Key said the cycleway would begin with the "Great Rides" through New Zealand's best scenery.

The long-term goal would be to link them through a network that took in some cities.

He said the routes for the Great Rides would be influenced by existing cycleways and tourism attractions.

The Government was working with councils and community groups to identify suitable routes that also boosted employment and regional economies.

Mr Key said he expected the Crown's funding of the rides to generate extra contributions from regional organisations, community groups, businesses and individuals.

None of the Great Rides had been decided, the Prime Minister said. An advisory group would be set up to help groups develop proposals.

In a twist, Mr English's hometown of Dipton in Southland could be one of the first places to get economic benefits from the cycleway.

Mr Key has previously said that an already proposed cycleway from Lake Wakatipu to Bluff was likely to be "one of the early cabs off the rank".

The route runs through Southland and takes in several small towns, including Dipton, where Mr English was raised and which he still represents as the Clutha-Southland MP.

The proposal is heavily modified from the Prime Minister's original vision after the Job Summit of a concrete path from Kaitaia to Bluff.

Mr Key said the revised cycleway would still create jobs and "unite and inspire regional communities in these difficult economic times".

He said it would attract higher-value cycle tourists, complementing New Zealand's "100 per cent Pure" brand.

I'M THE BOSS

"We won't be spending $50 million on it this year or next year or the year after."
- Finance Minister Bill English, April 5.

"It is my great pleasure to announce that the Budget will allocate $50 million over three years for the New Zealand cycleway project."
- Prime Minister John Key, yesterday.