No, I am not talking about this woeful government. They are most certainly a major handbrake on the economy, but they are going to cost us much more than $3.5 billion. Yes, really. But there is another major handbrake on the economy, and it is going to cost us all big time, particularly in the major cities. That ‘handbrake’ is the cancellation of National’s road-building projects.
New Zealanders are feeling the pain of billions of dollars in fuel taxes, but not reaping the benefits of better roads, and that could be putting the brakes on the economy.
With National’s 10 “Roads of National Significance” effectively in a holding pattern, Treasury is concerned that NZTA is unable to spend all the money it taxes, which is dragging down economic growth.
Yes. It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious. One of the first things that this government did was to cancel many of the previous government’s major roading projects; the ‘Roads of National Significance’. One of the next things they did was to impose fuel taxes for transport projects such as the Auckland Light Rail plan, which might be a ‘nice to have’, but it won’t get many people to work and it hasn’t even been started yet.
The $2 billion the NZTA collects in fuel taxes is usually spent on building new roads.
I can’t believe the nerve of Jacinda Ardern as she stood in front of the cameras and told everyone that motorists here are being fleeced. Of course we are… by a greedy government that is gathering money for transport projects it probably has no chance of ever delivering. In the meantime, much-needed roads, many of which would have been well underway by now, are never to be completed, and congestion is getting so bad, the country is rapidly becoming gridlocked everywhere.
But the new Government’s decision to redirect money into road safety and public transport has meant $3.5 billion less will be spent on new state highways, according to documents released under the OIA.
It’s also stalled its building programme for “12 to 18 months” while it comes to terms with the Government’s changes.
Infometrics economist Brad Olsen said the transport spending was a “brake on the economy”.
And Treasury agrees lower spending is concerning.
It said industry was concerned about the 12 to 18-month stall in construction projects while the new Government was revising its transport priorities.
Probably waiting for another working group and in the meantime, motorists are paying up to 11 cents per litre in additional fuel taxes for absolutely nothing.
There are 12 large roading projects which Treasury says are “market-ready”, but these have been effectively scrapped under the new Government’s pivot away from highway investment, although only two of the ten Roads of National Significance were fully funded before the election.
This is your classic ‘chicken and egg’ situation. This government wants to focus on public transport projects, but such projects take years, if not decades to complete. In the meantime, people still have to get to work, and the best way they can do that, with grossly inadequate public transport in most major cities (and definitely in most of the smaller towns) is to drive. But the government does not want us to drive. It wants us to use public transport, so it won’t build any more roads and on and on it goes.
The NZTA’s accounts also show that it’s struggling to spend all the money it collects. While it’s managed to collect nearly $1.5 billion in fuel taxes this year, it has struggled to spend anything near what it planned to.
Honestly, this is scandalous. Impose the taxes, force people to pay, but have no idea when their new transport projects will even be started, let alone ready to use. Such is the madness of this hopeless government.
New infrastructure investment acts as economic stimulus, as the money spent works its way through the economy and better infrastructure improves productivity.
But if the Government collects this money in taxes without spending it properly, it acts as a drag on the economy, slowing growth.
New infrastructure also helps to absorb the impact of a growing population. This is something New Zealand has struggled to do for a decade.
It is going to struggle much more with the witless Phil Twyford in charge, along with Julie Anne Genter, who describes people who want to get to work on time as ‘car fascists’.
Olsen said the problem isn’t so much the money that’s been promised, it’s the lack of projects that are ready to go.
He said there needed to be more emphasis on getting projects “shovel-ready”.
“Where is the plan for now?” he said.
The Government’s announced on Thursday that its Auckland light rail plan will not be considered by Cabinet until 2020, which means construction on the $6 billion project will be pushed out beyond the current Parliament.
National’s Transport spokesperson Chris Bishop said that the slashing of the state highway budget was starting to have real effects on the economy.STUFF
“Important projects, many of them ready to go, have been pushed off to the never-never – all for a light rail project the start date for which has been delayed yet again,” he said.
In the meantime, in Wellington at least, the bus timetable has been turned on its head, and many services cancelled because there are not enough drivers; the trains seem to regularly go off the rails, and we have no new roads. Actually, that is not true. Transmission Gully is going to go live next year but because two Hutt Valley roading projects have been shelved by this government, there is likely to be a 30% increase in the number of vehicles on SH2 going into Wellington via Transmission Gully.
Gee, I can’t wait. I live up the hill from the Melling intersection which is one of the projects that has been shelved by Twyford and his motley crew until 2029.
Just another failure by the Coalition of Total Losers. It is hard to keep up with the number of things that they have talked up massively, but haven’t done.