Roadworks affected by cuts

BY PIERS FULLER

Cuts by the Government to subsidies for sealing gravel roads are disrupting plans for South Wairarapa to upgrade some of its roading network.

South Wairarapa mayor Adrienne Staples says with around 300 kilometres of gravel roads in the district, there has been an ongoing programme of trying to seal around a kilometre a year.

But if the council has to pay the entire cost of these upgrades it will make them unaffordable.

Mrs Staples regularly attends the Regional Transport Committee briefings so has been aware of these changes being on the horizon for a couple of months.

She is disappointed by the lack of funding for sealing gravel roads but appreciates that if the cuts didn't come here they would go somewhere else.

"I'm absolutely disappointed because these rural roads are important to us.

"They're part of our economy and also there are safety and health issues.

"Having said that, I do recognise that it's not an endless pot. We're in a recession and the Government's doing cutbacks. If they don't cut back that, they'll cut back something else."

The end of Western Lake Rd toward Ocean Beach and Wharekahau is one road the council has targeted for new seal because of increased traffic. Other similar projects are unlikely to be undertaken without a subsidy.

"Basically, it has to be stopped, because if it has to be a hundred per cent ratepayer funded then it is just too expensive," says Mrs Staples.

Carterton District Council-approved total expenditure on roading for this financial year is $2.86 million.

This amount will qualify for subsidy from the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) at 52 per cent for maintenance and renewals and 62 per cent for new works. The total approval is down about $50,000 on what was applied for.

CDC chief executive Colin Wright says he can only assume that the council didn't get bigger cuts as the NZTA saw their work as essential.

"The large majority of our work is maintaining and renewing the roading assets we already have. There is quite limited money available for new works," he says.

The fact there is no subsidy available for seal extensions means Carterton's plans down the line could be disrupted.

Masterton had applied for subsidies for its $19m worth of roading projects over the next three years and the changes in government funding mean a cut of around $1m.

MDC chief executive Wes ten Hove says the council is hoping to make up the shortfall with reduced contract costs.

"Our programme has been affected slightly. Not as substantially as it sounds like some are affected.

"But with the contracting arrangements that we've now got in place with some of the contracts coming through, we think that it won't affect, in any substantial way, the volume of work," he says.