Spend surplus on powerhouse city, says Banks

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Auckland City Mayor John Banks wants the Government to pump an extra $250 million a year into city roads over the next decade.

Mr Banks yesterday said the Government could easily afford the money out of a predicted surplus of $3.5 billion this year and reaching $5.2 billion over the next three years.

"The money would not make a difference to the Government but would make a huge difference to the Auckland economy," Mr Banks said in a state of Auckland address to the Property Council.

"It does not make sense to deliver a $5 billion surplus when at best the economy is treading water while the country's engine room [Auckland] splutters from Third World infrastructure."

The former National cabinet minister also called on the Government to slash personal and business taxes to 25 per cent, and deal with transport issues, compliance costs and the regulatory maze of the Resource Management Act.

"These are the top impediments to growth and prosperity. They are the stumbling blocks."

A spokeswoman for Finance Minister Dr Michael Cullen said there was a long list of spending sugesstions.

The Government acknowledged the severity of Auckland's congestion, but the region was receiving the lion's share of new roading money.

Transit New Zealand last month announced that Auckland would get $1.2 billion of the $1.6 billion likely to be available for highway projects in its 10-year programme.

However, Transit has not pencilled in a cent for Mr Banks' pet project, the eastern highway, which is likely to cost between $460 million and $1 billion. Mr Banks has staked his mayoralty on building the 25km six-lane highway from Hobson Bay to Manukau before 2010.

In his speech, Mr Banks also called on the Auckland Regional Council to be stripped of its transport planning role and be limited to being an environmental watchdog.

Later Mr Banks told the Herald that ultimately Auckland transport issues should be set aside for a standalone authority such as the Auckland Regional Transport Network, a company set up by six councils to manage the region's rail and ferry assets.

Mr Banks said the council had expertise and good people on environmental issues but it struggled on the bigger, commercial issues of transport. He said the ARC's work on a business plan and providing interim trains for Auckland had been a shambles.

Herald feature: Getting Auckland moving