Split Funding Equals Short-Sighted Decisionmaking
April 17th, 2008
At some point in the dark mists of history someone decided it would be a good idea to let Local Govt politicians, who more often than not are mostly concerned with getting re-elected, to have a say in the development of national transport infrastructure. This is a very bad idea and needs to be knocked on the head before any more short-sighted, self-serving decisions are made such as the bizarre move to site Manukau’s new central city railway station on the wrong side of a busy road.
Savings Illusory. It is unclear why the Govt decided to fund the bulk of the cost through general taxation but left the funding of a small but crucial proportion of the project’s total cost, about $10m, to the whim of Local Body politicians. Predictably in the interests of short-term thinking, the Manukau City Council has decided the extra $10m should not be spent to site the railway station in the right place to maximise potential patronage. It was deemed the impact on rates rises and therefore re-election chances would be too high.
Congestion Impact Ignored. The station should be located in the best possible site and this should not be left to chance yet this is what has happened. This situation also means planning construction is delayed and hamstrung as Ontrack’s planners have to wait until the last minute to find out where the line will finally end. The end result will be lower patronage and greatly reduced potential of the scheme to take cars off South Auckland’s roading network – one the the country’s heartland industrial hubs. The extra $10m cost would more than likely be well and truly offset by at least this value of savings long-term in reduced regional traffic congestion. Obviously this level of thinking is beyond that of most Manukau councillors.
The mish-mash of mix of Central and Local Govt funding is apparent also with State Highway funding with no rational regime in place to determine why particular roads should be tolled nor the exact level of tolling. It’s a real funding lottery and like all lotteries it’s a game of chance. It’s time the Govt came up with some sensible policy so planners know whether a particular project is likely to need top-up funding from local sources or not. Better still scrap local funding of State Highways and rail infrastructure all together as it will be cheaper in the long run.
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