Minister vows $54b spendup
The Government will plough $54 billion into transport investment over the next 10 years, upgrading and building roads, rail and cycleways.
Transport Minister Phil Twyford brought forward the announcement of the package in a bid to give infrastructure builders certainty that the Government was committed to big transport spending as the economy took a hit from Covid-19.
The move ‘‘shows our Government is putting the pedal to the metal on our balanced transport policy while committing to a massive infrastructure spend over 10 years’’, Twyford said.
But Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones wants the Government to go further and faster, allowing its road-building agency, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) to raise its own debt, which would potentially give it many billions of dollars more in funding.
He said NZTA should be like Ka¯inga Ora, the Government’s housing agency, which can borrow up to $7.10b on its own without drawing on the core Government balance sheet.
‘‘It is not Government policy but I have been lobbied incessantly about it so I have invited people to send submissions to us,’’ Jones said.
He also wants to work with other ministers to bring ‘‘Christchurch earthquake-style’’ powers to the transport portfolio, allowing the Government to steamroll red tape and planning restrictions to speed up construction. He is working with Environment Minister David Parker on potential law changes to bring forward projects.
‘‘I am full of eagerness for such an outcome because I have learnt the hard way how long it takes my Provincial Growth Fund Projects to bear fruit,’’ Jones said.
For the first time, the Government will also allocate money to coastal shipping services, which will get a maximum of $45 million over the next three years as part of a move to take freight off roads and on to other forms of transport like ships and trains.
But, controversially, it will be road users who pay for this funding via fuel taxes and road user charges.
The plan for spending this money is set out in the Government’s draft policy statement on land transport, which will spend $48b. The New Zealand Upgrade Programme will add another $6.8b to the pot.
At this stage it is only a draft, so the plan is likely to change slightly before it is finalised later in the year.
It does not fund specific projects – those decisions are made by NZTA officials – but it does suggest how much money should be spent on different parts of the transport portfolio.
The big winners are road safety and public transport, each receiving a healthy injection of funding.
This suggests big improvements to public transport and cycleways up and down the country.
Road safety improvements will be given a massive funding injection, receiving a maximum of $2.8b over the first three years of the package.
Public transport services will receive $1.9b over the first three years while public transport infrastructure will receive $2b over the same period.
The package also signals changes to the way things such as light rail are likely to be funded. Light rail was given its own funding category in the 2018 policy statement, titled rapid transit, and given a maximum of $760m over the three years 2018–2021.
It has now been folded back into a new envelope of funding for public transport infrastructure.
‘‘There is provision in the public transport infrastructure budget line ... for all public transport infrastructure including the light rail project,’’ Twyford said.
Other projects, such as a potential rapid transit system for Christchurch involving either high-speed buses or light rail, look set to progress over the next decade.
State highway improvements will receive $3.2b in funding over the next three years, while state highway maintenance will receive $2.6b.
The money will come mainly from fuel taxes and road user charges, which are not currently slated to increase. This tops up the National Land Transport Fund to the tune of $4.5b a year.