Interest in road funding continues

It has been a big fortnight for transport funding announcements. A week on from Minister Bishop’s update about the transition to universal RUC, NZTA announced its tolling proposal for Canterbury’s new Belfast to Pegasus Motorway and Woodend Bypass (B2P).

B2P is one of the Government’s Roads of National Significance (RoNS), providing a 10km four-lane motorway extension north of Christchurch, and a bypass that reduces the heavy traffic burden on SH1 through Woodend.

I wasn’t surprised to find local mayors are opposed to tolling. After all, particularly in these tight times, any new cost is a burden, and local residents end up the most exposed. However, the new road bypasses Woodend, so arguably those locals will have a choice. They don’t have to use the new road and the traffic volume on the current route will reduce. This should leave the local community significantly better off.

It is unfortunate that NZTA hasn’t made a stronger case for the benefits that delivering B2P (partly enabled by tolling) will offer locals and the entire country. The evidence both here and internationally is that connecting communities in a safer, more productive and more efficient way is not only good for the national economy but in the long run it also benefits the local communities most impacted. Better roads will improve our country’s productivity and the sooner we can make those improvements the better.

Tolling is simply a means of managing cash flow and a mechanism that allows investment to happen earlier, on a user-pays basis. Opposing tolling leaves you with three undesirable alternatives: additional government borrowing, higher FED and RUC, or freezing the roading pipeline.

Another key aspect of road funding will be confidence in the budgeting and project management. It was a concern, but again not a surprise, to hear that the cost of the Ōtaki to north of Levin (O2NL) highway has ballooned to $2.1 billion, more than double the original 2020 estimate of $817 million, and that’s despite construction not even starting.

Regardless of whether roads are tolled or not, sound investment decisions will be highly dependent on the analysis inputs and unfortunately the only thing we’re confident about at the moment is that the final cost won’t be whatever cost NZTA initially said it would be!

Safety focus shifts from road cones to high-viz vests and hard hats

In my role, I’m pretty cautious of being seen to favour one party or one politician over another. However, I couldn’t let the debacle with Winston Peters getting dolled up in safety gear for a train ride go without comment.

While I applaud KiwiRail and its Rail Safety Week initiatives, I did find it bizarre that the Minister was required to wear all that safety get up. We need to change New Zealand’s current approach to risk management.

The first and most important step of effective risk management is to give due consideration to the risk at hand and then apply the appropriate level of risk controls. The approach over the last couple of decades of taking blanket prescriptive approaches such as simply reducing the speed limit everywhere or getting people to wear safety gear wherever they are is not only a cop out, it will have perverse effects.

Good on Winston for having the gumption to challenge what he was being told to do. If more people actually thought about what they were doing, we’d be far better off.

Increased horsepower and torque

I’m pleased to advise we’ve recently recruited some new staff. Lily Linscott has joined us as Member and Event Coordinator, and our Policy and Advocacy team has been bolstered with Rowan Everton and Mark Stockdale. Mark comes with an extensive transport background having worked at Bus and Coach Association, AA and Motor Industry Association. Together with Rowan and Billy they form the most formidable policy team I’ve seen in advocating for road freight.

These new additions will ensure we’re even better placed to execute our strategy and deliver what our members need and deserve.

Board elections 

In other news, our year is flying by and at our October AGM in Napier we will be holding elections for our officers. There is a huge amount going on in our industry, and being a Board Member of Transporting New Zealand is a massively valuable opportunity to lead our industry and ensure it remains successful in the future.

If you’re interested in standing for Board election, please contact kelly@transporting.nz.

Dom Kalasih, Chief executive of Transporting New Zealand