17 JUNE 2015

Minister Needs to Spend on East Coast Roads And Rail

New Zealand First believes the Transport Minister is being shifty by boasting about regional transport spending, especially in Gisborne.

“When I heard the Minister wax lyrical about land transport spending I thought, hang on a minute, that doesn’t ring quite true,” says Transport Spokesperson Denis O'Rourke.

“Gisborne deserves better roads but it also deserves to have rail to help take logs between the Ports of Napier and Gisborne.

“National has abandoned the Gisborne-Napier rail line, not that Anne Tolley likes to be reminded of it. There is 1.6 million tonnes of logging per year there with 390 trucks on the road, projected to grow to 2.2 million tonnes and 430 trucks by 2022.

“We agree the East Coast needs and deserves better roads but when National came to office, $42.6m was spent on land transport there. In election year 2014/15 it was $44.6m but that sum ought to have been $49m adjusted for inflation.

“There is no reason why the East Coast cannot have both roads and rail except for an ideological road block.

“If you adjust what was being spent in 2008/9 for inflation, in real terms, land transport spending in 2014/15 was actually less in Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Northland, Bay of Plenty, Manawatu-Whanganui and the West Coast.

“In Northland, NZTA investment in local road maintenance this year is $14.6 million, significantly lower than the $15.5 million average over the last seven years. Even the $5.8 million investment in local road improvements is significantly lower than the seven year average of $9.8 million.

“But you’ll never guess where transport expenditure has surged? Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington, which confirms National as the party of the cities and not the regions,” says Mr O’Rourke.

ENDS

© Scoop Media