Editorial: Cycleway on track as other ideas hit ditch

Opinion

A sizeable dollop of irony hung over yesterday's announcement that the Government wants work to start on seven legs of a national cycleway this summer. The project has been subjected to considerable ridicule since it was championed by the Prime Minister at February's Job Summit. Now, of the big ideas to come out of that gathering, it appears the one likely to bear the most fruit.

A joint bank-Government equity fund to help struggling firms has been abandoned, and most employers do not seem to want their hands tied by a nine-day working fortnight. Only the cycleway is gathering momentum, even if not as the concrete path from Cape Reinga to Bluff originally envisaged by John Key.

The announcement that $9 million of the $50 million cycleway fund had been allotted to starting the network of unsealed smaller-scale tracks is particularly timely. This was always a make-work scheme. As such, it had to be predicated on unemployment in the areas traversed by the tracks being high enough to negate the prospect of normal work being found for those on the dole.

Until a month or two ago, New Zealand's job statistics remained relatively buoyant. The most recent data has, however, underlined an escalating problem as employers abandon a wait-and-see policy and react to the global decline in demand for goods and services.

In nominating seven tracks to kick off the cycleway, the Government listed its top priorities as job creation, access to existing tourism attractions and infrastructure and transport, and local government commitment. That suggests a good grasp of the factors that should underpin the project. If all seven tracks are confirmed by feasibility studies, 300 jobs will be created, rising to 500 a year as supporting businesses develop. That is not a huge number, but it will make a welcome dent in the unemployment statistics in the affected districts. The numbers employed should also increase as the network gains more spikes and becomes more attractive to tourists and New Zealanders alike.

The Government also seems aware that an inflated sum must not be paid for these jobs. Costs have to be kept relatively low. To that end, local councils have and will continue to work alongside the Department of Conservation and the Transport Agency in the development of the tracks. This should help to ensure that costs do not get out of kilter with the likely benefits.

Mr Key noted that the total value of the Otago rail trail had been estimated at $7.2 million, and it provides 75 full-time jobs. That venture has been a huge success and is an optimistic pointer. The Prime Minister also said a report on Britain's cycle network suggested cycleway projects could generate $18 in benefits for every dollar invested. Such a figure is reassuring, even if a direct correlation with this country is by no means guaranteed. At present, only a very small number of overseas tourists say they would be greatly interested in cycling here. Any such benefit would, equally, rely on New Zealanders being enticed to use the tracks in significant numbers.

Fortunately, the Government's scaled-back version seems to acknowledge this. And that make-work schemes have their limits, and should not take funding which could, otherwise, be directed to potentially more profitable uses.

A financial blow-out seemed possible when Mr Key first reckoned that a concrete path from north to south would cost a mere $50 million. The first planks of the revised project are far more grounded. They suggest costs will be kept in check, while vulnerable districts are cushioned somewhat from the recession.

As a national network begins to take shape, what was once a subject of scorn appears on track to become something of enduring social, environmental and economic benefit.