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An angry Rotorua Mayor has called NZTA’s regional office officials to a meeting with him in Rotorua today to “explain themselves to the council” over highway funding.
The Mayor, Kevin Winters, is shocked to find that the newly released draft State Highway Programme
doesn’t have any funding for the next stage of the Rotorua Eastern Arterial Route until at least the 2017/18 financial year.
Labelling it bombshell that could mean the slow strangulation of Rotorua’s economic future, he says it’s was totally unacceptable and Rotorua people would be justified in thinking the government had let them down badly.
“It’s less than two years since Steven Joyce came to town proudly making noises about funding that his government had allocated for initial investigation work on the Rotorua arterial.
He went so far as to put out a statement (December 2009) saying it was the first step in easing traffic congestion through this important corridor.
“His statement said the project promoted economic growth, aided urban development and improved safety. It described the proposed arterial as an important link between the city of Rotorua and key infrastructure including Rotorua International Airport, the Port of Tauranga and the wider Bay of Plenty region.
“More importantly Mr Joyce said, and I quote, “the Government is committed to lifting productivity, creating jobs and helping get our goods to market faster. Strong investment in our state highways and the completion of projects such as this will help deliver on these priorities.”
“So I have to ask of NZTA, and the minister and our local MP, ‘what’s happened to this commitment?’ How can NZTA’s apparent funding about-face deliver on those priorities as promised?”
Rotorua eastern Arterial
Rotorua District Council infrastructure services group manager Nico Claassen said forecasting showed that the existing heavily utilised Te Ngae Road route in and out of Rotorua would reach full capacity by 2017.
“This means it is imperative that construction work on the new Eastern Arterial is well underway by 2017 at the very latest. NZTA must therefore commit funding for the project’s design phase for inclusion in their 2014 budget, or sooner.
“This state highway programme is one of the single most important infrastructure projects in Rotorua’s history,’ said Mr Claassen. “Without it we can expect gridlock on our roads.”
Mr Winters said the future safety of Rotorua’s motorists, pedestrians and cyclists, and the city’s ability to service its visitor industry, especially those using the international airport, were both heavily dependent on the new arterial route going ahead.
“Additionally this is a vital lifeline for our wood processing and timber export industries as it is the sole heavy haulage route from our forests to processing plants and to the Port of Tauranga.
6 Comments
This is good news, the highway is a waste of money anyways, I hope it doesn’t ever get built, its built to make growth spiral out of control and encouraging more heavy trucks into the town. The highway will have the opposite effect. Unlike the CBD link we don’t even know if it will receive any funding at all, at least the incumbent mayor knows
Perhaps its further down the list of priorities because the economic benefits aren’t as high as the council and SJ initially claimed, that would hardly be a first.
What? The government did a flip flop?
“Mr Winters said the future safety of Rotorua’s motorists, pedestrians and cyclists, and the city’s ability to service its visitor industry, especially those using the international airport, were both heavily dependent on the new arterial route going ahead.”
Hang about it is the duplicate of an existing road.
The “international airport” is about as busy as Bedourie “International Airport”. And then what’s out past the end of the road? The bustling metropolis of Kawerau
Maybe they should build a motorway to Murupara instead. C’mon let’s triple lane the SH5. Mr. Winters you know it makes sense. Too much hydrogen sulphide in the atmosphere or something.
Ummmm Mr Mayor, you know all those new motorways around Auckland…?
Typical small-town pork barrel “you said you were gonna spend lots of money here so we of course want it” thinking. The minister isn’t going to spend the money on schools or on cycle paths, so themayor considers it’s best to get as much highway as he can.
And then, suprise, even NATIONAL realises their highway spending has outstripped their ability to pay (until they have cut a few more PT projects, of course), and has to delay some projects…