State Highway Funding Up 50%
March 19th, 2009
In the programme Transport Minister Steven Joyce laid out this week, he was spelling out the size of the funding pipeline for land transport over the next 10 years, set at $6.6bn by Labour, but to be $10.7bn under National. This could be added to through public-private partnerships or tolling. Joyce says under National state highway infrastructure will get 50% more money than Labour indicated. Cutting back highway funding now, he says, is orchestrating a shift which is going to lead to congestion, bad safety outcomes, poor efficiency outcomes, probably poor environmental outcomes “and just flies in the face of reality.” Joyce says the existing funding model for the amount of investment planned “doesn’t work.” It is not enough to pay for the cost of new trains, track development as well as other transport projects. KiwiRail as the owner of Crown-funded passenger rail stock in Auckland and Wellington would save costs and ensure the most efficient use of transport funds. (See
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Duncan Cotterill