There is no doubt funding for land transport in NZ is a mess despite the Govt finally dedicating all revenue raised through Road User Charges and fuel excise taxes to funding the country’s transport systems. It seems almost as though funding mechanisms are being made up on the hoof. As has been pointed out by Auckland Regional Councillor, Joel Cayford, there appears to be little or no consistency in terms of the proportion of a project which may come from Central Govt coffers and the amount which must be raised from local sources.

Confusion Reigns. It appears if you live in Wellington and want a rail network upgrade you will get a much greater proportion of the total cost from central Govt than if you live in Auckland. On the roading front, Transmission Gully motorway has been approved but with a $600m funding shortfall, an exact timeframe for the start of construction is still unclear. In fact, so confusing is the way in which land transport projects are funded very few people have any clue as to where money is coming from, how much is coming and when it might turn up. Even more bizarrely money is being dished out to fund projects which do not exist. Last year, for example, the Waikato Regional Council received millions of dollars for regional rail projects despite the Council not having a regional rail policy on which to spend it.

Devil In The Details. The Govt took great delight in announcing a record budget for land transport but when you get down into the details it is not actually funding all the announced spending which begs the question when is a budget an actual budget? Almost never when it comes to building road and rail projects in NZ. Too often Local and Regional Councils are left scratching their heads as to how they can fund the gaping gaps in budgets. This ad hoc approach is just not good enough. Funding needs to be certain and simple.

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