Tuesday 5 July 2005

$660 million Wellington transport investment

The government today announced an additional investment of $660 million (ex GST) to provide a solution for the Wellington region's western transport corridor.

"Labour MPs, the region's councils and Peter Dunne have all worked hard to fix the infrastructure deficit left by the last National government, says Transport Minister Pete Hodgson. "The new money announced today sets the scene to address the western transport corridor within ten years."

The funding comes in two parts. The first tranche of $255 million is for:

Enhanced passenger transport provision Better traffic demand management Intersection safety and bottleneck improvements, and New roads from Petone to Grenada and the Kapiti Western Link Road.

An additional $405 million is the government's contribution to the western corridor contingent on regional agreement as to the preferred option. Both options, the coastal route and Transmission Gully are expensive, at $710 million and $1.14 billion. However, Transmission Gully is clearly the more expensive. Unlike the coastal route, it has to be built all at once, not in incremental steps.

However, while both routes pose significant consenting and engineering challenges, the coastal road may be more challenging. That is why central and local agencies will report by December this year on a detailed implementation plan for the western corridor, including a consenting strategy for the coastal option.

"Issues such as these cannot be tackled in the presence of unsustainable tax cuts. It is the one, or it is the other."

ENDS

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