Dunne Welcomes Signing of Transmission Gully Construction Contract

UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne has hailed today’s announcement by the New Zealand Transport Authority that it has today signed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract with the Wellington Gateway Partnership to enable the construction of the 27km Transmission Gully to get underway.

“This contract marks the most significant step forward not only for the realisation of this project, but also for the Wellington region as a whole. It marks the end of 75 years of uncertainty for the region”, says Mr Dunne.

“The construction of the Transmission Gully highway as a public private partnership has been a central element of Confidence and supply Agreements with successive Labour-led and National-led governments. So I am naturally delighted that work will begin in the very near future and, and that the Highway will be operational by 2020 – it puts an end to all those doubts people kept expressing about whether it would ever be built in their lifetimes,” he says.

Mr Dunne says Transmission Gully was first proposed as a highway route in 1939 (although it had been suggested as a rail corridor as early as 1906) so the announcement today of construction starting this year brings a conclusion to 75 years of debate in Wellington about improvements to its northern access and egress.

“I cannot wait to be present at the turning of the first sod”, says Mr Dunne.

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