Mayors lukewarm on Gully tax

Wellington region mayors have expressed limited appetite for a fuel tax to help fund Transmission Gully, saying it would cover only a small part of the shortfall.

The $1.025 billion project is again in doubt, with Transport Minister Steven Joyce not convinced that it is the best option for solving Wellington's northern access woes.

Greater Wellington regional council chairwoman Fran Wilde said a fuel tax would be considered by the regional transport committee, which includes the region's mayors, at some stage this year.

She said Wellington motorists were likely to accept a regional fuel tax if it helped pay for the Gully road, which has a funding gap of $600 million.

"Transmission Gully is so popular that people would be happy to pay a toll. You would assume they would be happy with a fuel tax."

The Labour government gave regional councils the ability to charge a fuel tax of up to 10c a litre for roading and public transport projects.

Greater Wellington regional council has estimated the tax could inject $35 million a year into the region's transport and roading projects.

But mayors who spoke to The Dominion Post yesterday were lukewarm on the idea of using such a tax to help fund the Gully route.

Porirua Mayor Jenny Brash said she would find it "really difficult" to support a tax unless other regions such as Manawatu and Wanganui also imposed one.

"It's the future State Highway 1. Why should we carry the burden on our own?"

Lower Hutt Mayor David Ogden said it was "just a drop in a bucket". Motorists were more likely to support a tax if it was for a smaller project and they could clearly see where the money was going.

Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy did not support introducing an extra tax. "At the moment everyone is hurting ... If we did do it, the revenues aren't going to be that great."

Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast said it was inevitable the option would be considered but it was not enough to pay for the Gully shortfall. Other regional projects needed funding support.

One problem with regional taxes was that some motorists might choose to cross into another region in order to buy cheaper petrol. "Where does the region start and where does it end?"

The Gully route has been favoured since 2006, when a joint regional council and Transit report recommended building it rather than a $730 million upgrade of the coastal highway.

The Labour government, which pledged $405 million toward the Gully project, gave the go-ahead last year for planners to prepare resource consents.

NZ Transport Agency said yesterday that no work had been done on costings for a coastal highway upgrade since 2006.

Mr Joyce told The Dominion Post this week that he had a "mixed view" on which option was better.

Labour's transport spokesman, Darren Hughes, said yesterday that Mr Joyce had reopened a debate that had already been settled.

"The discussions now should be about how we fund the project, and not about reopening old debates about whether we should go ahead."

National's Otaki MP Nathan Guy said he would lobby Cabinet to proceed with Transmission Gully.