Promise of cash if tolls fall short

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

State road-funding agency Transfund is ready to spend up to $265 million on extending Auckland's Northern Motorway to Puhoi if tolls from motorists reap less money than hoped for.

The organisation yesterday announced a decision to grant $180 million to Transit New Zealand to build the 7km extension from Orewa - and then to provide a subsidy of up $85 million over 16 years to repay any debt unable to be recovered from tolls.

Transit intends borrowing $140 million from the Government to supplement the construction grant for the project, which it now expects will cost about $320 million.

This is $20 million more than an estimate in August, but Transit's acting capital projects general manager, Colin Crampton, said last night that it included inflation expectations not costed earlier.

He hoped the $85 million subsidy would not be needed, and that tolls would repay the entire shortfall on the construction grant, but it was very hard to predict revenue over such a long period.

Government approval is still needed for Transit to be allowed to collect tolls of $1.80 for cars and $3.60 for trucks.

But Transit hopes to gain an order-in-council before Christmas for construction to start early next year, and is already building a project office with its contracting partners next to the roundabout where the existing motorway ends, west of Orewa.

Rodney's mayor, John Law, welcomed the grant as "wonderful news" and said he accepted a need for some tolling component because there would never be enough otherwise to pay for all of Auckland's roading needs.

But Rodney Economic Development Trust chief executive Mike Smith, while also relieved about the grant, said many in his community would remain aggrieved at having to pay to use a road which received planning consents without mention of tolls.

Although pleased the Government would foot most of the cost, he said it was obviously persisting with tolls purely on a point of principle, as a precursor to doing so on other new roads.

Mr Smith said provision for the longer-term subsidy was no surprise, given the dismal economic performance of Tauranga's locally funded Route K toll road, which lost almost $5.2 million for the 12 months to June 30 after collecting just $930,000 from motorists.

Rodney's new Auckland Regional Council member, Christine Rose, said she supported some level of tolls to make motorists more accountable for their impact on the environment.