Tauranga MP Simon Bridges is "reasonably optimistic" that a viable solution can be found to the city council's $60 million Route K debt burden.
Route K's financial health had improved since the toll for cars increased by 50c on January 1, although revenue was still well short of the amount needed for the road to start paying its way. The council has spent years negotiating with successive governments to get Route K off its balance sheet by having it classified as a State
Mr Bridges, the Associate Minister of Transport, was asked by the Bay of Plenty Times what he could bring to the issue. He began by saying that ultimately the issue of road funding rested with the Minister of Transport Gerry Brownlee and that he had been delegated to deal with road safety, Maritime New Zealand and a number of other transport matters. However as the local MP, he was happy to meet and discuss Route K issues with the council. "Ultimately I am reasonably optimistic about Route K. The council, possibly together with the Government, will be able to find a solution to make it more than viable in the long term."
Mr Bridges was reluctant to go into detail, except to say that nothing was on or off the table.
The council's Route K loan currently stood at $58.7 million, with tolls also funding the council's $10.9 million share of the Pyes Pa bypass costs. Councillor Rick Curach supported applying political pressure because the council appeared to be making no progress with officials. He questioned why ratepayers should be the final backstop to service the loan when the road was clearly functioning as a highway to the port.