More money to complete rail stations, says Joyce

Key Auckland rail station projects will be completed despite an estimate that roading will account for three-quarters of funding, the Government has said.

Auckland Regional Council officers have estimated that a new Government policy statement on transport funding will require 76 per cent of money to be spent on roads.

This compares with 68 per cent under Labour policy last year and a target of 64 per cent in Auckland's 10-year strategy formed by the region's councils in 2004.

However, Transport Minister Steven Joyce said the new policy statement had increased a draft upper funding limit for public transport infrastructure, to provide flexibility for Auckland's railway station projects.

Regional transport committee chairwoman Christine Rose said the calculation raised serious questions about public transport funding at a time of unprecedented demand and in the face of a potential $200 million shortfall for projects such as railway stations and ferry terminals, after the Government cancelled a new regional fuel tax to pay for those.

"It means for us a total reversal of the autonomy and balance we had been trying to achieve through the regional land transport strategy," she said.

That strategy had earmarked 32 per cent of funding for public transport and 4 per cent for travel demand management, which includes school and business travel planning as well as walking and cycling facilities.

Ms Rose acknowledged the upper limit of spending on public transport infrastructure for the next three years had increased from a March draft sum of $210 million to $300 million.

However, the Government could spend as little as $60 million under its own plans.

Ms Rose said the Transport Agency had advised the regional council to expect allocations at the "very low" end of the spectrum.

She said the agency had also indicated to the Auckland Regional Transport Authority a need to prioritise funds to ensure adequate local links to what the Government had designated "roads of national significance".

These include the Victoria Park motorway tunnel in Auckland and the region's western ring route.

Mr Joyce said the Transport Agency was continuing "positive discussions" with the regional council and KiwiRail on how to plug funding gaps for new stations being built on Auckland's railway network, including at Newmarket and New Lynn.

"Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll be able to tell you where they are at," he said.

The increase in the upper limit for public transport infrastructure spending was precisely "to provide the flexibility we want the agency to have in terms of assisting if required with the station projects in Auckland".

Neither did he expect the priority being accorded to roads of national significance to make much difference to Auckland's transport plans.

"If you look at what the big one is, it's completion of the western ring route," the minister said.

"That was the priority well before the roads of national significance came along and that remains the priority. So presumably the Transport Agency, the ARC and city councils will want to ensure they get the biggest benefit from the western ring route."

The Government's three-year land transport programme is due to be confirmed in September.

NATIONAL TRANSPORT FUNDING 2009-2012

Transport infrastructure
NATIONAL (CONFIRMED) - $60m-$300m
LABOUR (SCRAPPED) - $290m-$550m

Public transport services
NATIONAL (CONFIRMED) - $585m-$675m
LABOUR (SCRAPPED) - $690m-$760m

State highways
NATIONAL (CONFIRMED) - $2.475b-$3.45b
LABOUR (SCRAPPED) - $1.6b-$2.2b