O'Sullivan: Foot down for road action

By FRAN O'SULLIVAN

Crunch point has arrived on the vexed issue of Auckland transport problems. Make no mistake about it.

If Auckland local politicians do not move smartly to underpin their long-winded consensus-building exercise with an action agenda the Government must force an outcome.

Business is fed up with self-serving politicians standing in the way of progress. The Auckland Chamber of Commerce will soon turn up the heat with a postcard campaign designed to put pressure on Auckland mayors to complete the motorway network.

That campaign will transform into a major issue at the October local body elections. But the pressure exerted by the chamber, and other members of the influential Auckland Business Forum, will not stop at local levels.

Last week, the Prime Minister jumped in and put her office's resources alongside those of Transport Minister Mark Gosche to sort out the vexed Tranz Rail deal. That response - born out of dissatisfaction with the $112 million over-the-line price which Tranz Rail extracted from Auckland local authorities to lease back the city's rail infrastructure - forms an obvious template for Government action when local authorities are sandbagged.

If Auckland cannot get its act together, the Government can simply replicate its America's Cup strategy and appoint a Transport Solution Taskforce directly accountable to a single cabinet minister. A strategically focused group, charged with scoring a win for Auckland, would quickly storm through the cumbersome regional and environmental blocks.

Behind the scenes the focus has been to bring together a Transport Development cluster that would include the territorial local authorities - the five Auckland cities that fracture Auckland - together with Transit New Zealand, the Auckland Regional Council's planners, the Ministry of Transport and Auckland business.

Led by ARC chief executive Jo Brosnahan this group has been developing a consensus. Self-interest says it should hurry up.

The reality is that if a Government-appointed taskforce is formed, it will inevitably become a Trojan horse for the ultimate restructuring of Auckland territorial authorities.

Other services such as water and sewerage will move to similar single-provider platforms. Logic would then dictate merging all five Auckland cities into a single super city and eliminating the cost to ratepayers of a raft of local politicians and bureaucrats.

Central Government politicians have always feared the political power a strong, united Auckland could muster. But Auckland's problems inevitably become national issues. This is not a "Jafa" bleat. It is just a consequence of the fact that Auckland produces one-third of New Zealand's national output.

The Auckland Business Forum has been very active in pushing for completion of a strategic road transport network in Auckland. The group, led by Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett and Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) branch chief executive Alasdair Thompson, comprises a cross-section including the Ports of Auckland, the Automobile Association, the National Road Carriers and Northern Regional Road Transport Association.

Well-known businessmen such as ASB Bank managing director Ralph Norris and organisations like the Business Roundtable have also become champions.

The Business Forum's campaign has been criticised for its focus on finishing the projected western and eastern corridors and the southern corridor upgrade. These projects - which put highways through built-up areas - have largely lapsed through lack of local political will. But stalled traffic hardens views and recent surveys show overwhelming support by Aucklanders to end the chaos which has led to Auckland being dubbed the City of Snails.

The Government is conscious that Auckland must stay attractive as a business destination. It is the country's major centre for transport and communications and acts as a service and distribution centre for all of New Zealand for international trade and travel. Nearly three-quarters of imports and a large percentage of exports pass through it.

The Government's preference is for the key players to forge a consensus. But most of those involved in the behind-scenes discussions expect it will take action in the national interest if the talk is not walked. It is here that the Tranz Rail action is instructive.

Last week, Finance Minister Michael Cullen said the Government's main reason for replacing the Auckland local authorities at the negotiating table was strategic. The Government was also developing a national rail policy and did not want this pre-empted by events in Auckland.

Left unsaid is why local body politicians were prepared to spend millions of dollars to buy a rail system when the rail operator could not quit the business fast enough.

Forecasts by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce that the $112 million deal could snowball into a $1 billion cost once the expenses of a rapid transit upgrade and a bus feeder system were factored in, have also brought the focus back to an integrated transport solution.

The Business Forum has argued that for a similar $1 billion investment, Auckland could complete its strategic roading network. The forum claims the $1 billion investment would have a one-year payback through eliminating the annual cost of traffic congestion in Auckland each year.

Jo Brosnahan's consensus-building exercise has already pulled the disparate Auckland factions together. But marrying the ARC's soft-focus Auckland Regional Land Transport Strategy together with the hard-edged approach of the Business Forum has not been simple.

The ARC's solution had been based on implementing its 1999 Regional Land Transport Strategy; a solution essentially focused on passenger transport, brought together after extensive consultation with the territorial local authorities and the public. The Business Forum's focus has been to finish the existing regional network by 2010.

But all the parties have recently given ground.

Transport Minister Mark Gosche, Auckland Issues Minister Judith Tizard and senior officials from the Ministry of Transport have also liaised closely as they steer Auckland towards a cooperative solution.

For the solution to fly it must overcome any narrow political objections mounted by local councils. As the Business Forum notes, when a local authority declines to support the implementation of the regional transport strategy in its own patch, completion of a strategic network becomes impossible.

Provider agencies such as Transit NZ and Transfund cannot legally construct and fund proposals that local councils do not support.

Mr Gosche is bringing together a Government transport package. This package will produce a national transport strategy giving legs to Labour's election policy pledges for a hands-on approach. It will also encompass road safety and funding.

The package may have Budget implications. Under discussion are proposals to increase the excise tax on petrol to help in financing an Auckland solution.

For the Auckland solution to stick, it must be in place before the October local body elections, when a whole new raft of politicians enters the debate.

Auckland mayors will get a taste of the grassroots response to local body inaction when the Auckland Chamber of Commerce's campaign gets under way.

A series of cheeky postcards with tongue in cheek headlines such as: "When travelling, why not stop in Auckland?" are about to be distributed.

If the chamber wants quick solutions it should also add Auckland MPs to its target list.