Sabotage attack on tollway

Michael Wech says trees felled on land once owned by his family were outside the proposed Orewa to Puhoi motorway route.

Bush-clearing machinery being used to clear the route of a toll motorway has been sabotaged, and extra security has been brought in.

But the road builders say they do not blame environmentalist opponents of the road, between Orewa and Puhoi.

Hydraulic hoses on an excavator clearing native bush off a hill above Waiwera Valley were cut.

Robert Jones, the project director for Transit New Zealand's construction consortium, said in a report to a community reference group on the $365 million motorway project that it was fortunate the damage was found before the machine was used.

Extra security had been introduced, because the damage could have caused "an environmental incident or serious accident or both".

"We believe this was an action designed to create an environmental incident and to damage the reputation of our contractor and the Northern Gateway Alliance [the motorway construction consortium]."

He urged the reference group to ask members of its community organisations to report suspicious activity to the police or the project's security company.

Mr Jones told the Herald he believed it unlikely environmental activists were involved, despite a suggestion by a critic of the project that the damage may have been retribution for the clearance of native bush, including mature kauri and beech trees.

He believed the culprits were more likely to have been disaffected former employees of the contractor.

Orewa police commander Sergeant Mark Smith said his staff were following leads.

Waiwera resident Hans Grueber, who has asked Auditor-General Kevin Brady to investigate an alleged cost explosion on the project, said cutting hydraulic hoses paled in comparison to what he called Transit's environmental vandalism.

"I can empathise with people who obviously tried to take the law into their own hand by sabotaging machinery even if this is every dangerous and should not be condoned," he said.

Dr Grueber accused Transit and its partners of creating a "fait accompli" of irreversible damage by cutting down large numbers of trees before gaining Government approval to build a toll road.

Mr Jones denied cutting the trees prematurely, saying all were on the route of a road that would be built eventually, with or without tolls.

They were within the Ricca forest of regenerating bush, on the northern side of Chin Hill, much of which is earmarked for excavation to give the road a run-up to a viaduct across the Waiwera Valley and then to twin tunnels through Johnsons Hill towards Puhoi.

But Michael Wech, whose family owned the bush block before it was taken under the Public Works Act, said some of the felled trees were outside a line marked for the road.

"They seem to have run through and stabbed one of the most valuable pieces of ecology in the heart," he said.

Mr Wech said the Auckland Botanical Society had identified 119 species of trees and other vegetation in the block.

About 100 substantial trunks remained after smaller trees had been reduced to wood chips.

His father, farmer Colin Wech, remains in dispute with Transit over a price for the more than 20ha of his land it has taken as well as ownership of the tree trunks, some of which local Maori have claimed.

Although the Government has delayed its decision on tolls until at least April, Transit gained a $20 million advance on a $180 million construction grant from funding agency Land Transport New Zealand in December to start the project.

At issue is the balance of the $365 million cost, which Transit wants to borrow from the Government and repay through tolls.

Without tolls, it says, the road could not be built for years.

Transit chief Rick van Barneveld told the Environment Court before Christmas that the $20 million advance was enough to push the project forward until April, when he hoped to gain up to $80 million more to prepare for a big construction push next spring.

But just over $5 million of the advance was budgeted to shut down the project if no more money was forthcoming in April.

Auditor-General spokesman Robert Cox said yesterday he had spoken to parties involved in the project and expected a decision within about two weeks on whether to conduct a full inquiry into Dr Grueber's complaint.

Dr Grueber has an affidavit which he says he obtained from an industry source who claims Transit is exaggerating costs to substantiate a need for tolls.