'Auckland first' policy on roads upsets Tauranga mayor

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

Tauranga's urgent roading needs are being ignored while the Government pays attention to Auckland's demands, says Mayor Jan Beange.

She said yesterday that she had been trying for nearly three months to meet the Minister of Transport to stress the need for extra money for the Western Bay of Plenty.

But her efforts had been repeatedly rebuffed.

"I am really concerned about this," said Ms Beange, who chairs Access, a roading partnership between the Tauranga city and Western Bay district councils and Transit New Zealand.

She appreciated that the Government "changed riders on the horse halfway through the race", but previous Transport Minister Paul Swain would not see her either.

"Auckland screams and they run to Auckland. We scream and nothing happens."

Auckland was not "the only fish in the sea" driving the New Zealand economy, nor was it alone in needing money for new roads.

Ms Beange said Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty sub-region wanted $800 million to ensure the economic prosperity of the region by reducing traffic congestion and meeting transport needs.

The region's roads serviced New Zealand's largest export port, the Port of Tauranga, which was essential to the forestry, dairy and kiwifruit industries.

"We need to be careful we don't develop tunnel vision about Auckland's problems when there are other regions making significant contributions to the national economy," Ms Beange said.

Her comments were in response to the unveiling of plans for Auckland's eastern highway, predicted to cost well over $3 billion - up from a $460 million estimate in 2002.


Ms Beange said she fully appreciated the need to solve Auckland's problems, but she was concerned the larger city's requirements might overshadow those of other vital centres.

The Western Bay of Plenty needed $200 million immediately for the next stage in its roading network.

This was a link that would double traffic capacity and ensure unrestricted access to the Port of Tauranga from the central North Island.


A planned four-lane harbour link includes building a duplicate bridge and a viaduct over one of the city's worst bottlenecks.

The project will be ready to start in June and could be at least partly financed by tolls, which is why the Minister of Transport has to be consulted.

"We're well ahead of Auckland," Ms Beange said. "We're ready to go. All we need is funding to get started."

There was a tendency for Government agencies and individuals to use Auckland as an excuse to delay transport development in other regions.

"To a certain extent, our problems in the Western Bay of Plenty are downplayed because we're not as bad as Auckland," she said.

"But instead of making Auckland's economic prosperity the sole driver, the economic benefits of the country at large need to be considered."

She said she had made more than half a dozen telephone calls and faxed four times since December 19 in her efforts to get a meeting with the Transport Minister.

Each fax message also went to the Minister of Finance, Dr Michael Cullen.

"But there was no response from his office either."

Yesterday, officials reiterated that the minister, Pete Hodgson was not prepared to schedule talks.

Ms Beange was told to raise the question of a meeting date with him when she, Western Bay of Plenty Mayor Graeme Weld and Environment BOP chairman John Cronin were in Wellington on April 5 for a SmartGrowth regional planning meeting.

"It is not good enough. We need a special focus on transport," she said.