Dunne: Quit pandering to Greens and clear way for bypass

In the wake of yesterday's Environment Court ruling giving the proposed Wellington inner-city bypass the green light, United Future leader Peter Dunne today called upon the Government to stop pandering to the Greens and call off a review of the project.

"Wellingtonians have waited long enough. The Environment Court ruling clears the way, and now the Government has to simply remove the final obstacle - which is really no more than a case of it trying to keep the Greens on side," Mr Dunne said today.

"Rod Donald may well want to pedal his bicycle around the capital's side streets, but the rest of us simply want to get this city moving forward," he said.

"The review is nothing more than a politically-motivated nonsense and should be called off now."

Mr Dunne said the review of the six major state highway projects planned for 2003-04, already looked loaded against the $27.5 million bypass project, which had been placed down the list behind mooted Auckland projects.

The two Auckland projects will be reviewed by October, with the Wellington project review being further delayed to the end of the year: "Why? Because the Greens don't want it," he said.

"It's time to end the bureaucracy and begin the work."

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