The Government's preferred option for Let's Get Wellington Moving includes grade separation at the Basin Reserve. Image / Supplied
The Government's preferred option for Let's Get Wellington Moving includes grade separation at the Basin Reserve. Image / Supplied
Treasury says the case for Crown investment in Wellington's $7.4 billion transport plan has not yet been made.
It also says it's too soon to determine a preferred option for Let's Get Wellington Moving (LGWM), correspondence released under the Official Information Act reveals.
But the Government has gone ahead andannounced its preferred option anyway, which includes light rail to the south, grade separation at the Basin Reserve, and a second Mt Victoria tunnel while keeping the existing one for walking and cycling.
A senior analyst sent an email in mid-June outlining Treasury's view of a draft Cabinet paper about the progress of LGWM. The Government made its announcement just two weeks later.
Treasury said given the project was only at the indicative business case stage, it was too soon to determine a preferred option and all genuine options should continue to be given adequate consideration.
"Given that various options are still being investigated, it is important that no one option is given more weighting, so that the next stages of the project identify the option that represents the best value for money in terms of addressing the strategic case, problem definition, and outcomes/objectives sought."
Treasury said the benefit-cost ratios (BCR) were "very low", in fact all options were below 1 under the base scenario.
"Given this, it is not possible to determine that any one option is marginally better than the others."
Other BCRs have been calculated under a high land use scenario, where it's assumed people change where they live, work and play in response to the investment in mass rapid transit.
Transport Minister Michael Wood. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The Government's preferred option has a positive BCR on this basis.
But Treasury said these BCRs were likely highly sensitive to assumptions and more analysis was needed to test the feasibility of increased urban intensification in Wellington.
Treasury considered it was too early to determine whether there was a strong case for the Crown to make a significant funding contribution to the project.
There was no framework to determine the relative benefits to the Crown versus local urban developments, and the indicative BCRs appeared to be low, Treasury said.
"So the case for Crown investment has not yet been made."
Transport Minister Michael Wood said decisions made on the Government's preferred option considered the preliminary results of the indicative business case.
"This provided us with enough information to give the programme and our partners a clear steer on which option we wanted to take forward to the Detailed Business Case phase, helping to progress the programme.
"We always consider views from government agencies seriously, but in the end people expect their elected politicians to lead and show direction."
Wood said BCRs did not alone confirm whether an investment was worth making.
"Some of the benefits that might be delivered through an investment proposal that are difficult to capture just through a BCR include healthy and safe people, resilience and security, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability."
Wood said he has heard loud and clear that Wellingtonians want the Government to get on and deliver a solution for their city.
Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter. Photo / Marty Melville
Green Party transport spokeswoman Julie Anne Genter said the Treasury advice was consistent with the party's position that other LGWM options should remain on the table.
The Greens have previously favoured Option 4 for LGWM, which has light rail to Island Bay, no grade separation at the Basin, but a new tunnel for walking and cycling, while the existing Mt Victoria tunnel remains.
"We want to see progress on the transformational improvements to sustainable transport, not another decade and huge amount of carbon emissions spent on last century's plan for car tunnels," Genter said.
Meanwhile, the National Party and Act both say Treasury's view showed Labour's ideological preference for light rail in Wellington didn't stack up.
National's transport spokesman Simeon Brown said providing better public transport options and reducing congestion shouldn't be so hard.
"Instead of finding practical solutions to tackling Wellington's congestion problems, like ensuring there will be four lanes for traffic travelling between Wellington CBD and Wellington Airport, Labour is focused on a light-rail vanity project and turning the existing Mt Victoria Tunnel into a walking and cycling tunnel."
Act's transport spokesman Simon Court said the minister needed to do his homework before committing "vast amounts of taxpayer funds to expensive pet projects".
"Act could have told the minister that spending billions of dollars in a cost of living crisis to provide no further capacity for motorists is not going to have a good benefit cost ratio."
