Tolls, hefty fuel tax tipped for Auckland

By STUART DYE

Auckland City Mayor John Banks predicts economically crippling congestion will force the Government to allow road tolls and a hefty regional fuel tax by the end of the year.

He said yesterday he was "quietly confident" that a timeline for introducing these and other money streams to pay for $5 billion of urgent roading would be bolted down at a meeting in a fortnight between Government officials and the region's mayors.

"The consequences of doing nothing, both economically and politically, are untenable.

"The time for debate is over. The Government knows too many voters are sitting in gridlocked traffic morning and night."

Mr Banks wants a regional fuel tax of 10c a litre and tolls on the harbour bridge and other key roads of about $2 for cars and $5 for trucks to break a "vice-like grip" of congestion around the country's economic power-house.

He said there was no future for small towns in the South Island unless Auckland lifted its economic output.

"They had better get used to the realities of life - our standard of living has slumped in the last 30 years," he said.

"Auckland's economic performance has been very poor which is why we have to get the structure in place."

Although draft legislation before a parliamentary select committee proposes tolls for new roads only, Mr Banks said he was confident of persuading the Government there was no way the region's transport network can be paid for without levies on existing routes.

"We have asked the Government for approval to be able to toll. I would think we need network tolls across the isthmus to help raise some of the funding shortfall."

A regional fuel tax of 10 cents a litre would raise $100 million a year. Tolls were planned on the proposed eastern highway and western loop road. The harbour bridge toll would bring in $65 million a year.

Mr Banks said Auckland had paid 35 per cent of all road taxes but had received back just 25 per cent of these in the past 10 years.

Transport Minister Paul Swain will not comment until the next meeting of the region's mayoral forum in two weeks, which he will attend with a joint officials group (JOG) of local body representatives from Auckland and key officials from Wellington. But a spokeswoman stopped short of denying the validity of Mr Banks' prediction.

Despite this, a source close to the group emphasised last night its work was at an early stage and it would take until the end of November to weigh up possible solutions.

Mayoral forum chairman George Wood, of North Shore, said he sympathised with Mr Banks but doubted whether his timetable was realistic as solutions had to be considered "in a systematic and measured way".

He was certain motorists would eventually be tolled for using some Auckland roads, but was unsure about a regional fuel tax.

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey welcomed Mr Banks' offensive but also wondered how realistic it was.

Banks' wishlist

* Electronic tolls on the proposed eastern highway, the proposed western loop road and the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

* Cars would be charged $2, trucks $5. The toll would help pay for $5 billion in roading work in the next few years.

* A regional fuel tax of 10c a litre that would raise $100 million a year. The money would be used to fix roading congestion in the areas in which it was raised.

- additional reporting Mathew Dearnaley and Natasha Harris