Media statement
For immediate release

Wednesday, 8 October 2003

United Future on the LTMB

United Future has welcomed today’s reporting back to Parliament from select committee of the Land Transport Management Bill as a significant improvement on the path towards developing a 21st century roading infrastructure for New Zealand, but warns further work is needed to make it an even better Bill.

Leader Peter Dunne said the Bill removes many of the previous impediments to new roading development.

“For example, toll roads are made possible, which is good news for the Auckland and Bay of Plenty regions and especially for Transmission Gully, which the people of Wellington have been crying out for for years.

“A lot of the rigidity that surrounded public-private partnerships (PPP’s) in earlier versions of the Bill has been removed, which opens up further possibilities for getting vital roading projects up and funded much faster than at present,” he said.

But Mr Dunne said United Future would continue to work hard on the government to ensure that economic efficiency was made a central cornerstone of the new roading policy, when Transit and Transfund were making decisions about which projects to approve and fund.

“We’re partway there,” he said, “but there’s more distance to go to ensure that New Zealand has the right legislative and funding framework to meet our future transport needs.”

Ends

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