`No guarantee' on transport funds

The Press reported yesterday that the powerful Canterbury Regional Transport Committee had shifted $38 million of "reliable" regional funding from public transport, walking and cycling into state highways.

The non-highway projects will now compete for funding in a nationally-contested pot.

Joyce said yesterday that the Government would roll back plans made under the previous government to spend 9 per cent less on state highway construction over the next three years.

Asked if funding for public transport, walking and cycling projects would be cut as state highway funding increased, Joyce said it was too early to say but later said the funding was not guaranteed.

Roading projects which were "ready to go" would be brought forward as part of the Government's infrastructure plans, including, possibly, some in Canterbury. Joyce said Canterbury was "pretty important" to the Government's roading programme and he wanted to visit Christchurch urgently to view the various projects, including the planned $177 million southern motorway extension.

"Christchurch is now the second-largest metro area in the country. It's always been important but arguably it's becoming more important."

Before the election Prime Minister John Key pledged $8.6 billion for new infrastructure projects over the next six years, an ultra-fast broadband network and school building programme. About $800 million will be spent in the first year.

Key was in Papua New Guinea yesterday but Joyce said the Prime Minister was expected to make announcements in the next month "about some short-term projects around physical stimulus".

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said he hoped the Government's "road dogma" would be overcome by economic understanding.

"I think it would be a major strategic error, premised on an assumption that oil will remain cheap for decades to come and greenhouse gas emissions will continue to be free or very low cost. I don't think either of those assumptions are true."

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) told Joyce in November that added investment in infrastructure, in particular roading construction, could stimulate New Zealand's economy as it grappled with weaker consumer demand and low levels of private investment.

NZTA spends more than $1 million a day maintaining the state highway network and spent $1.46 billion last year replacing and improving state highways.

In its ministerial briefing last November, the Ministry of Transport told Joyce the transport sector must improve energy efficiency and shift to more sustainable energy sources and modes of transport.

When asked yesterday about the country's greenhouse gas emissions, Joyce said state highways created efficiencies.

He pointed to the Government's review of the emissions trading scheme and said questions about the review and the protocol were best directed to Environment Minister Nick Smith.

The Government will be working on its transport policy statement in the coming months.

Labour transport spokesman Darren Hughes said yesterdaythat Labour had made a huge investment not just in state highways, but also in local roads, public transport, walking and cycling, and road policing. "Total spending on public transport rose from a miserable average of $40 million a year through the 1990s to a forecast $640 million in 2008/09."

- © Fairfax NZ News