Media release
Auckland Councillor Cameron Brewer
Sunday, 11 March 2012

Govt buy-in on City Rail Link needed before committing ratepayers

The request of $8 million more from Auckland ratepayers for the current financial year to do provisional work on the proposed $2.86b City Rail Link is only the start of more money demands, says Auckland Councillor Cameron Brewer.

“Like most Aucklanders I support the project in principle, but alarmingly the costs continue to rise and after nearly 18 months into this new council we don’t seem to be any closer to reaching any agreement whatsoever with the Government on the project’s economic benefits and funding.

“It’s a real worry that things have gone so quiet. Let’s not forget that it was May last year when the Ministry of Transport, Treasury and NZTA review was released which raised a number of concerns around the Council’s enthusiastic business case. Since then a lot of assumptions have been made that the Government will come to the party, but there remains no sign of that happening yet.”

Mr Brewer says the Mayor has blindly loaded the project onto the council’s 10-year budget with the draft Long Term Plan stating: ‘The Council has assumed that the Government will meet about 50% ($1.52b) of the forecast construction and land costs component of the City Rail Link.’

“The Mayor wants the Council to sign-off this massive project and budget in June without any confirmation the Government is on board. To me that is wrong. This project is already causing significant hikes in rates and council debt, yet we still haven’t brought the Government any closer. What’s more in the draft Long Term Plan, currently out for public consultation, the project is promised to be complete by 2020/21. That’s just a little over eight years away and frankly unlikely.

“It’s encouraging that the Mayor is currently consulting with the public on alternative transport funding solutions, such as tolling, but it’s increasingly doubtful he could put in place any new funding mechanisms, which would require new statutory powers, by 2016 which the draft Long Term Plan also assumes.

“There is an out-clause in the 2012-2022 Plan that if the funding does not become available to the extent and in the timeframe assumed that the Council will revisit the project in its 2015–2025 Long Term Plan, but a huge sum of ratepayers money would have already been spent by then.”

Last week the Council’s Strategy & Finance Committee agreed to bring forward $8m from the 2012/13 City Rail Link budget to the current financial year, lifting the 2011/12 project spend from $2m to $10m. The extra money is to be spent on progressing the Notice Of Requirement and responding to the Government’s May 2011 review of the Council’s initial business case.

“At that meeting I successfully moved a motion that before we finalise the City Rail Link expenditure in the Long Term Plan in June, Auckland Transport gives the Council an update on what progress has been made on reaching any agreed positions on the project with Central Government.

“At the very least we’ve got to get some assurances the Government is somewhat on board before we commit Auckland ratepayers to this massive project which only seems to be getting more expensive by the month,” says Cameron Brewer.
Ends

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