KEY POINTS:
Auckland is fast becoming Wellington's Iraq. If we're not stoning Sports Minister Trevor Mallard for his waterfront stadium plan, we're up in arms about Government plans to make us pay tolls to finance highways that the rest of the country gets for free.
And like President Bush, the
politicians have only themselves to blame.
On Tuesday, two tolls proposals were rejected by the Auckland Regional Council's transport policy committee.
This was days after Transit New Zealand admitted to the Herald that administration costs associated with collecting the tolls were likely to equal the $800 million needed to fast-track Auckland's western ring route.
In other words, it's going to cost $800 million over 35 years to collect tolls needed to raise the more than $2 billion needed to pay off the loan plus interest borrowed to complete the motorway by 2015. Which is good news for the overseas bankers at least.
And that's the good news. Like the stadium estimates, nothing is certain. The $800 million estimate for the Waterview stage of the highway could be more if a proposal to burrow the road deeper underground is adopted.
Also, there is no certainty about the amount of money tolls will produce, particularly if motorists choose to stick to free alternative routes.
In the transport committee, opposition to tolls came from across the political spectrum.
From the right, Bill Burrill demanded a guarantee that Auckland would continue to receive "its ordinary fair share" of transport money from fuel taxes if it accepted tolls as well.
He said the toll plan was "a fudge to enable Auckland to continue funding the rest of the country, as we have done for 20 to 30 years".
This was a reference to recent figures revealing that Auckland motorway building has been underfunded for decades.
Chamber of Commerce chief Michael Barnett joined in, attacking Transit for "holding Auckland over a barrel" by starting the route then saying it could not finish it as it was $800 million short.
From the left, committee chairman Joel Cayford asked what other projects in Transit's $7 billion programme were so important that the final Waterview section could not be finished before 2030 without tolls.
Committee members were also wary of a call from some Auckland mayors to raise extra roading cash through a regional petrol tax instead of through tolls.
To me, if Aucklanders are expected to pay more for their roads per capita than other New Zealanders, such a tax seems a much cheaper way of collecting the cash. And it also spreads the cost of using a single integrated roading network more equitably.
But regional councillors have plans for a regional petrol tax as a way of raising money for public transport.
Mr Cayford is fretting that if they get their way and such a tax was introduced, Transit would step in to pluck this "low hanging-fruit" for roading before public transport got a chance.
Such challenges to Transit's pro-toll proposals are heartening, especially because of Transit's reluctance to release the information needed for intelligent and informed debate.
In the interest of fairness and balance, why was information such as the high cost of administering and collecting tolls, made public only mid-way through Transit's public consultation process?
I wonder how many of those who have posted their support for tolls based on the initial Transit propaganda think differently now they know how expensive and long-winded the process of raising this $800 million is going to be.
At least with a fuel tax, the levying could begin immediately so the capital needed to be borrowed would be less than under Transit's proposal to start collecting toll money only in 2015 when the highway is completed.
It's hard, though, to go past the fact that Auckland has long been cheated of its share of transport cash.
The proportion has improved in recent years, but in the 2005 financial year, the Auckland region scored only 29 per cent of Land Transport New Zealand funding, although 34 per cent of New Zealanders live in the region.
Why should we have to pay more?
