Stephen Selwood, CEO of the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development warns NZ will need to wean itself off reliance on fuel excise to fund road infrastructure and the Govt needs to grasp the nettle and push for broader debate on who pays for the nation’s highways. He says the Govt “isn’t keen to have that discussion politically,” and projected national land transport funding is insufficient on its own to see the Wellington Northern Corridor and the other six roads of national significance completed within ten years.

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Current projections prepared by the NZ Transport Agency show a funding gap of up to $400m a year by 2015. Selwood says “if these projects are to be delivered within the next decade, as they should be, road users will have to contribute more through increased user charges.” The funding gap “will force a fundamental rethinking of how we fund road infrastructure.”
NZCID says projects such as the strategic upgrade plan for State Highway 1 from Wellington Airport to Levin are welcome but the strategy must now be backed by a detailed funding and delivery programme. “But plans aren’t much use if there’s not enough money to fund their implementation.”

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