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Rodney District Council is seeking independent costings for a toll road to Whangaparaoa Peninsula, rather than waiting for a national administration system to be developed for that and other projects.
Community pressure for the $160 million link across the Weiti River to be built as soon as possible has prompted the council to seek financial advice from Australia while Transit NZ keeps wrestling with setting up a national tolling umbrella both for its own projects and those of other road authorities.
Transit wants commonality between all tolling schemes to ensure motorists travelling between various parts of the country are not faced with a multitude of electronic collection systems, as happens in parts of Australia.
It also hopes to spread costs through economies of scale, by adding as many schemes as possible to its only toll project so far to gain Government approval, the $365 million motorway extension it is building through the hills between Orewa and Puhoi.
But Rodney's special projects manager, Ray Ginnever, said uncertainty over the Transit exercise meant his council could not complete a business case for its own Penlink scheme without considering alternative funding to ensure the best value for motorists travelling between Whangaparaoa and the Northern Motorway at Redvale.
He said Transit's toll systems project was a moving target and would be influenced by what the agency learned from public consultations over its controversial proposal to charge motorists to use Auckland's western ring route between Manukau and Albany.
Transit will not disclose the verdict of about 21,000 submissions on that proposal before it recommends to its board whether to seek Government approval for tolls, but all four city councils along the 48km route oppose it, as does the Auckland Regional Council.
That is in contrast to strong community support shown for Rodney's Penlink scheme, which that council says can be built as a local road only with a combination of state subsidy and private investment repayable from up to 35 years of tolls. Most of 1400 submissions supported paying a toll of between $1.50 and $2.50 to use the 7km link, as did 88 per cent of 500 households surveyed and 85 per cent of 100 businesses.
Rodney had hoped to be ready by now to apply for an order-in-council recommendation from Transport Minister Annette King, who has indicated willingness to give serious consideration to any proposal.
But although a panel of commissioners has reported that many Whangaparaoa residents want the council to get on with building the road, Mr Ginnever said it would take until next month to complete the case to support an application to Land Transport NZ for a subsidy of up to 58 per cent of the cost.
The district council has also passed a resolution calling for another round of consultation if the business case cannot guarantee that the road will be built at "no cost of minimal risk to ratepayers".
