The investment from the Provincial Growth fund for transport links in Kaipara will no doubt be welcomed by local residents but the Government’s overall approach to roading in Northland makes no sense, National’s spokesperson for Transport Paul Goldsmith says.

“The reality is that although the Government has provided this funding, it is not going to build the key road that the region needs - the highly engineered four lane highway from Wellsford to Whangarei.

“On the one hand the Government is going to continue to drip feed funding for a half measure, a single laned highway to Whangarei, frustrating all Northlanders, and at the same time sporadically throw a bit of money from the Provincial Growth Fund to favoured regions.

“This is part and parcel of the politicisation of the fund from Shane Jones with a bias to particular regions.

“The extra capital for the development of Māori land will be welcomed by Māori – it’s a pity however, that the Government has axed the Te Ture Whenua Māori reforms which would have added hundreds of millions of dollars of value for Māori landowners and their whanau by unlocking the economic potential of the around 1.4 million hectares of land.

“We should be wary of the PGF becoming the banker of last resort for general business or Māori land owners.”

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