Subscribe to RSSPuhoi Cost Benefit Still Unknown
The Transport Minister says it’s too early to confirm exactly what the final cost-benefit ratio for the Puhoi to Wellsford highway will be.
Steven Joyce told parliament this afternoon that NZTA remains in the design and investigation phase and this work is ongoing.
“The most recent published benefit-cost ratio is 1:1, including wider economic benefits, and this can be found on the New Zealand Transport Agency website.
“Given the nature of the ongoing work, the exact cost—the “c” of the “b-c”—will not be known until the design is complete, and the New Zealand Transport Agency will continue to update me as this work progresses.”
he said the roads of national significance are the projects identified based on their strategic benefit for the country and their cost benefit ratio would continue to be ‘refined.”
PUHOI: Calling it Holiday highway is 'offensive'
Under questioning from Labour MPs, Mr Joyce objected to the term Holiday Highway”, saying “many people around the country find (that) a little offensive, and I think that is a gratuitous and opinionated matter.”
He said the particular area had engineering challenges. “There is more work to be done and, again, we will not know the final benefit-cost ratio until that work is done.”
10 Comments
DONT BUILD IT!
Just upgrade the existing highway. When you travel over it during the week or weekend the traffic is normal and flowing perfectly fine. No need to build it except for the big development companies that want to build up there and attract Aucklanders.
Holiday Highway seems appropriate to me.
So he doesnt know the BCR, yet its an essential project and essentially already has funding. No matter what it costs. Yet the CRL, which I believe has a BCR of 1.1 with wider economic benefits doesnt get a look in. Ridiculous.
more like 0.2 Mr Joyce
The great UNelected one dribbles again.
Time to boot the Nats out. Specially out of Auckland now!
Interesting that AMETI is starting to move forward now too.
Interesting move to recalculate the bcr once millions have already been spent investigating it, consulting with locals, designing etc. the remaining costs will be significantly smaller than they were to begin with.
Oscar, for what it is worth, the current costs are a pittance compared to actual construction, so the BCR isn’t going to budge because of THAT.
Heck, the only way to budge this BCR is to raise (inflate?) the benefits, or to cut back the project costs by cutting back the project itself (or do less mitigation, less contingency…).
Since neither seems all that feasible, I think we will see more “refining” being done and presuming they win the election and the one after that, they will just go ahead with the lackluster result anyway. That is the good thing here really. Even if Nats win this one, this won’t start until around or after the 2014 election, and by that time, the load will have turned into a millstone around their necks. It won’t get built.
He has already cut the project into two in order to make it look smaller [just stand sideon Minister, dress in black] Like the way that Waterview doesn’t included all the work that will have to happen to the Northwestern to make the thing not just seize up because of it.
Meantime, everything imaginable is added to the CRL costings; grade separation to level crossings elsewhere on the network so cars don’t have to stop; double tracking Onehunga, more vehicles on the network [never counted in road costs]; the minister’s tea and pinot budget. In short anything near it.
Patrick - actually I thought that for Waterview, they added quite substantial bits that WERENT Waterview, including getting the Northwestern Motorway widened all the way from St Lukes to Te Atatu without much notice being taken (though that’s really the media’s and the public’s fault for not highlighting that).