20 October 2009

Maintenance of Manukau’s local roads will have to be cut or delayed following a reduction in Government funding, says Manukau City Council.

Manukau City Council Transport Portfolio Leader David Collings says provincial areas aren’t the only ones who will suffer from changes to Government transport funding policies.

“Manukau is facing a $7 million cut in funding from NZTA. This means the council’s options are to increase rates or do less to maintain and improve local roads.

“The community has told us loud and clear they can’t afford any increase in rates. This means we’ll have to do less road resurfacing, maintenance and improvements each year. Some local roads that really need work soon will have to wait.

“One of the big problems with delaying maintenance and resurfacing is that we will have poorer quality roads. This ends up costing more in the long term because there will come a point where we’ll have to spend more to get roads back up to standard.

“There is also uncertainty about whether we’ll get funding for a number of other roading projects, for example upgrades to roads around Flat Bush needed to cope with development.

“The national priority is now state highways, which means less going into local roads, road safety programmes, public transport, walking and cycling facilities,” Cr Collings says.

Manukau City Council’s Accountability and Performance Committee will meet next Tuesday to decide how to reprioritise its transport programme following the changes to transport funding.

ENDS

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