Transport minister David Parker is questioning the National Party’s costings for its latest transport plan which he says falls “billions of dollars short”.
National’s Transport for the Future plan, costed at $24b, promises to deliver 13 new roads of national significance plus more low emission transport options.
It aims to do this by a combination of reallocated funds from within the National Land Transport Programme, new government investment and private funding.
But Parker says the shortfall in costings for just four of the projects announced is at least $2.8 billion, and as much as $4.8 billion.
“You can bet it’s much higher when their other projects are included,” he says.
Those projects, as highlighted by Labour, include:
- Tauriko West State Highway 29 – National has put the cost at $1.9b. Waka Kotahi’s latest estimates put the cost range at $2.5 – $3.25b
- Warkworth to Wellsford Expressway – National says $2.2b. The latest Waka Kotahi estimate is $3.5 – $4b
- Cambridge to Piarere – National says $721m. The latest Waka Kotahi estimate is $1.5 – $2b
- Whangarei to Port Marsden – National says $1.3b. The latest Waka Kotahi estimate is $1.41 – $1.67b
“National has form in this area – when they were last in Government, they paid for new roads by slashing the road maintenance budget. That created a long-term resilience problem for our roading network, including the pothole explosion that this Government has had to fix.
“Then they announced a $500 million pothole repair fund, paid for by raiding the road safety budget – things like traffic police, road safety barriers, passing lanes and signage would be compromised.
“Now they are putting up poorly costed roading promises across the country in their desperation to get a headline. They say they will fund it all through the National Land Transport Programme, but that is laughable,” Parker says.
“Many of National’s estimates appear to be based on old data and fail to take account of real-world escalations in road construction costs.
“Between March 2021 and September 2022, roading material costs rose as much as 45 per cent, labour costs went up 7.5 per cent, diesel was up 90 per cent at peak, steel up 57 per cent and bitumen prices rose by 104 per cent.
“Private-public partnerships would not make any difference – they are subject to the same cost pressures. The taxpayer is still paying for Transmission Gully,” Parker says.
National ‘comfortable with costings.
But National is hitting back, with transport spokesperson Simeon Brown saying the Government “has utterly no credibility on transport project delivery, or sticking to a budget”.
“It’s rich for David Parker to suggest there’s a shortfall in National’s costings,” he says.
“National used the upper figures of the Government’s own range of costings that are publicly available, and we have set aside a significant contingency of $1.4b.
“We will also invite private partners to contribute to some projects, as happens regularly overseas, so the total tab does not fall on taxpayers,” Brown says.
Meanwhile, National leader Christopher Luxon said he would not take lectures from Parker and was “very comfortable” with the costings.
