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Transport Minister Simeon Brown is unsure if he can turn the ignition key on major motorway projects this term.
Brown promised voters at last October’s election to expect spades in the ground on eight Roads of National Significance over the first, three-year term after relentlessly criticising Labour for failing to deliver infrastructure projects.
But five months into the job, Brown said the Coalition Government remains committed, but could not put a start date on any of the Government’s Roads of National Significance, saying the delivery dates are a matter for NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.
He said NZTA would asses the Government’s multi-billion-dollar package of new motorways and have delivery dates by August/September.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown. Photo / Dean Purcell
Road projects National expected to begin building this term:
Whangārei to Point Marsden
Cambridge to Piarere
Mill Rd Stage 1
East-West Link
Takitimu Northern link Stage=S 2
Second Mt Victoria tunnel
Belfast to Pegasus motorway and Woodend bypass
Second Ashburton Bridge
National’s “Transport for the Future” election policy initially had a second Mt Victoria tunnel down to start in the second term, but the start date was brought forward by National’s infrastructure spokesman Chris Bishop.
He said Wellingtonians are sick of the interminable arguing over the Basin Reserve and a second tunnel, and promised construction would start in the first term by designating it a major infrastructure priority.
Brown is showing flexibility over motorway projects, indicating work could be brought forward on the notoriously fragile Brynderwyn Hills, which are currently closed for 10 weeks to address ongoing slips, and amid concerns about the impact on the Northland economy.
“The work being done now is only going to buy seven to 10 years worth of resilience on that particular stretch. It’s obviously a key route to Northland and it has to be a top priority going north,” Brown said.
He said the Government intended to address the Brynderwyns, calling it a “critically important project”, but claimed there had been no planning done in the last six years.
That is not strictly correct. Two bypass routes to the west of the Brynderwyns are part of a business case for SH1 between Port Marsden and Te Hana being undertaken by the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, which Brown claimed was stopped by Labour.
State Highway 1 over the Brynderwyns. Photo / RNZ - Nick Monro
National has promised Ashburton a new bridge.
Asked if an alternative route for the Brynderwyns should proceed before the other two highway projects between Auckland and Whangārei - Whangārei to Point Marsden, and Warkworth to Wellsford - the minister said it would be worked through as part of the National Land Transport Programme (NLTP).
The programme is NZTA’s three-year investment programme that reflects the priorities of the Government Policy Statement (GPS) for land transport.
Brown last week released a draft GPS containing 15 RONs National plans to build over the next decade, including the package of motorways expected to begin over the next three years, and a new bridge for Ashburton.
“I will have more to say on individual projects once the NLTP is published,” he said.
Labour transport spokesman Tangi Utikere said Brown criticised non-delivery in opposition but is now singing a different tune in Government by back-pedalling a commitment to start building these “Roads of National Party Significance” within their first term.
“He needs to show some leadership and a commitment to his roading projects by telling everyone when these projects will start.
“New Zealanders will see this for what it is - yet another broken promise from the Coalition Government,” said Utikere.
The Green Party’s transport spokeswoman Julie Anne Genter said National was irresponsible in opposition and promised to build a bunch of roads that they couldn’t fund or deliver quickly.
Green Party transport Julie Anne Genter.
“Now they’re being advised that the roads will cost a lot more than they promised. The reality is that these things will cost the country more than they return in benefits. The faster National reassesses their undeliverable promises, the better for the country and the climate,” she said.
Last month, the Heraldrevealed delivering the roads and public transport National campaigned on ahead of the October 2023 election could end up costing more than twice as much as the party said it would, leaving a potential fiscal hole of $24 billion.
