Motorway Network Completion by 2015

The Auckland Business Forum welcomes the increased integration and certainty that will result from the Land Transport Management Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament yesterday.

The move from annual to three yearly programming cycles for transport planning and delivery of services provides greater funding certainty for councils and transport providers, said Auckland Business Forum chairman Michael Barnett.

Another significant change is the provision for better integration of local, regional and national transport planning and delivery of services.

“We welcome the opportunities and certainty the proposed regional fuel tax offers to fund capital projects, especially those that will ensure the completion of long-planned motorway projects in the Auckland region. We also applaud the Government’s decision to fully dedicate fuel excise duties to the National Land Transport Fund.

In respect of the change in structure of the central government agencies and the creation of the New Zealand Transport Agency through the merger of Land Transport New Zealand and Transit New Zealand, Mr Barnett said that while this would help achieve more integrated decision-making and improved accountability it was important to ensure that the expertise, skills and momentum that Transit New Zealand had recently established to complete key projects efficiently was not lost in the resulting restructuring that the staff faced in the period ahead.

Mr Barnett said the Auckland Business Forum appreciated the consultation the Minister of Transport had enabled in the lead up to the legislation and it is supportive of the outcomes.