Anger over Route K proposal

Route K.

An angry outburst has followed plans for the Tauranga City Council to hand over its toll road Route K to the country's highways agency while still retaining the debt for up to 35 years.

"For God's sakes guys, get your head out of the sand," Welcome Bay councillor Bill Grainger said in response to the deal in which the debt of $61.5 million would stay on the council's books.

The council and the New Zealand Transport Agency were negotiating a deal in which the agency proposed to take over the road on July 1 next year on condition that it paid for future maintenance of the road and installed an electronic tolling system to allow the free-flow of traffic.

It anticipated that tolls would go up to $2 in 2016 to match the toll which the agency planned to impose on the Tauranga Eastern Link when it opened in two years.

Cr Grainger insisted the agency should be purchasing Route K because it serviced the largest port in the country.

The deal included that once a date had been established on when the debt was expected to be fully repaid from tolls, any potential remaining debt after that date would transfer to the agency.

This provided the council with more certainty on when the debt would come off its books.

Cr Grainger questioned what Tauranga's MPs had done for the council on the issue of Route K, including the former Associate Minister of Transport Simon Bridges.

He accused the council of showing its weakness by negotiating such a deal.

The council voted 6-4 to support the principle of the agency underwriting the financial risk and to continue down the path of reaching agreement on the terms that the road could become a highway.