Migrants' traffic cure

By BRIAN RUDMAN and BERNARD ORSMAN

New migrants will be forced to pay for Auckland's congested roads and rundown public transport under a creative plan being considered by the Government.

The idea is to make business migrants invest in low-interest, set-term infrastructure bonds as a condition of entry to New Zealand.

At present, "investor" category migrants have to invest a minimum of $1 million as a condition of entry. The scheme could include a wider spread of migrants investing in the bonds. Seventy-one per cent of Asian migrants live in Auckland. The proposal is one of several options being considered by a group of senior Government officials and representatives from Auckland local bodies.

Other options include a regional petrol tax and charging motorists to drive across the city at peak hours.

The group, which includes representatives of the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, and Finance Minister, Dr Michael Cullen, aims to resolve funding issues surrounding Auckland's $5 billion roading and public transport programme and report to the Government by November.

Advocates for the infrastructure bonds include Rodney Mayor John Law and Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett.

Mr Law said the money should go into a special infrastructure fund, possibly held by Kiwibank.

"Immigrants I've spoken to about it feel good about it. They say they will feel they're contributing to the development of New Zealand rather than just adding further strain on existing infrastructure," he said.

Mr Barnett said he put a proposal to Dr Cullen about a year ago, after studying the amount of money migrants brought into New Zealand and finding it was about $1.5 billion.

He suggested the money be put into infrastructure bonds and be held for two to three years, as happened in Canada.

It is understood the Government is moving away from a regional petrol tax. This could lead to a nationwide petrol tax, which would be allocated on a population basis to regions.

National's associate transport spokesman, John Key, said there was no doubt the Government should make a grant to Auckland to make up for years of underfunding. Aucklanders could not afford to pay an estimated $2.4 billion shortfall to fix the transport network through petrol taxes as the cost of a litre of petrol would have to rise by 27.5c.