Judith Tizard: City's own resources used to address its traffic issues

COMMENT

On Friday, the Government and Auckland's political leaders will meet to map the road ahead for the city's transport funding and governance.

Sustainable, efficient and affordable roading and public transport are fundamental to growth. In a globalising world, not only is New Zealand competing with other countries, but our cities are competing with Australian, Asian, American and European cities.

Auckland is the powerhouse of the economy, and our only internationally competitive region. It must be able to compete directly in cost, efficiency and standard of living with Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, just to start.

The region's congestion is estimated to cost the whole of New Zealand about $800 million a year.

And there are other costs. Vehicle emissions affect the health of all Aucklanders as well as the city's environment. There are costs to our economy and communities of commercial vehicles and workers sitting in congested traffic. The cumulative time wasted in traffic affects the work-life balance of all Aucklanders.

Spending on Auckland's roads and public transport declined seriously from the 1970s to the 1990s, at a time the city's population, and its vehicle fleet, grew rapidly.

Statistics show the Auckland region has grown by nearly 40,000 people in the past year, a rate of growth that has not been seen in the region since the 1950s.

Every Aucklander and most New Zealanders acknowledge we have major growth and infrastructure issues to deal with in this region, which is why the Government is working with Auckland in partnership.

Some commentators have claimed that our focus on Auckland is at the expense of the rest of New Zealand. Not only is this not true in percentage terms, it is also not true in terms of money.

An analysis of Transfund's national land transport programme from before the change of government in 1999, projecting through to 2006, shows Auckland getting an expanding but entirely appropriate share of transport funding.

This has not been at the expense of other regions, but merely using Auckland's resources to address Auckland's issues so that the region will be able to go back to supporting development across the whole of New Zealand in the shortest time possible.

In the 1994-97 period, Auckland received $420 million from Transfund, or 21 per cent of the national land transport programme total. By the current period - 2000-2003 - this had risen to $759 million, or 28 per cent of Government spending on land transport, including significant boosts for public transport and initiatives such as cycleways and busways.

In the period to 2006, Auckland is projected to receive $1.25 billion - 36 per cent of Transfund's overall budget.

This hasn't come at the expense of other regions. While solving Auckland's gridlock problems is a priority for the Government, it is not prepared to let the rest of the country's transport needs take a backseat.

Of 14 other regions, nine are budgeted to receive an increase in Government land-transport funding between 2000-03 and 2003-06, some substantially up. Wellington's budget has gone from $201 million in 1997-2000 to $332 million in 2003-06; in the same period, Canterbury's share jumps from $160 million to a forecast $250 million.

Even those regions that have seen some levelling of funding in the latest three-year period have generally had big increases in previous trienniums.

The Transfund figures run the steamroller over anyone who tries to claim Auckland is not now getting its fair share of Government transport funding, and those who suggest this is at the expense of the rest of New Zealand.

From 1998-99 to 2003-4, the Government contributed $1.63 billion to Auckland transport. The level of funding confirms it is playing its part in the rejuvenation of Auckland's infrastructure.

Last month, I helped to turn the first sod for stage two of the Central Motorway Junction, and attended the iwi blessing of the Greenhithe section of the Upper Harbour Corridor. Stage 2 of Spaghetti Junction is the biggest roading construction contract in Auckland. The Greenhithe project is a critical part of the Western Ring route.

These projects and others such as the huge Grafton Gully-to-Port construction provide evidence that progress is being made.

World-class infrastructure is a key to restoring New Zealand to the top half of the OECD. We have years of neglect to catch up on and it has to be carefully managed so that we're not actually adding to congestion while we're trying to solve Auckland's traffic problems.

Friday's announcement will cement further the Government's commitment to working in partnership with Auckland and New Zealand on an affordable, integrated, safe, responsible and sustainable transport system.

* Judith Tizard is the Minister for Auckland Issues.