Nicola Willis Deflects As National Splurge On Roads

Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, November 10th, 2024 - 10 comments
Categories: economy, greens, infrastructure, julie anne genter, national, nicola willis, same old national, simeon brown - Tags: , , ,

Nicola Willis says the multi-generation i-Rex ferries were too expensive for her – so she cancelled them at a cost of ~$1bn of taxpayers money – and offended NZ’s sixth largest trading partner.

But Willis and National have now committed a minimum of $3bn to build:

“less than 2km of one car lane in each direction in central Wellington before an investment/business case has even begun.” (Julie Ann Genter – Green Party)

This will save travel time of ~10 minutes from the northern suburbs to the airport during peak hour, and might help the politicians, but what about NZ’s infrastructure needs? And development outside of roads?

Greater Wellington Regional Council said the central government had denied its plan for public transport funds:

The regional council had put together a $270 million bus and rail infrastructure plan and sought, and was denied, 51% funding from the Government.

And they wanted to see an integrated plan – but National seem intent on proceeding without a wider care or consideration.

The i-Rex ferries would have been delivered in 2026, while the costs of maintaining existing and now rapidly aging ferries have almost doubled to $65m next year.

Furthermore, National spent $1.6m investigating a long tunnel option (that would have cost ~$10bn) because Simeon and Luxon thought it was “a really attractive option” – despite the price tag.

The new recommended option is expected to cost under $5bn – although Simeon Brown won’t be drawn on specific costs, as they start developing the business case next year – for these committed funds.

And naturally, they have already appointed Simon Bridges as Chair of NZTA to facilitate.

For some things, under this government – price and reason is really no barrier at all.

Source: Substack

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10 comments on “Nicola Willis Deflects As National Splurge On Roads ”

  1. Kay 1
    10 November 2024 at 9:15 am

    Not batting an eyelid. Of course there's money if it's something to appease themselves and their donors. Public transport (incl. ferries) is only for the plebs. You know, the ones that don't vote RW. In their warped minds, cars and planes are the only way to go, and we can't possible lose even more than a minute getting to the airport because those pesky pedestrians need to be safe.

    https://www.wellingtonairport.co.nz/news/airport-updates/wellington-airport-withdraws-cobham-drive-court-action/

    Reply
    • Bearded Git 1.1
      10 November 2024 at 6:02 pm

      Let the plebs wait 10 hours for treatment in a public hospital while we spend billions to save 9 min driving to our private hospital.

      Oh and btw we fly to our Queenstown mansions so why bother with decent ferries?

      Reply
    • Mac1 1.2
      13 November 2024 at 8:14 am

      On the subject of 'saving time' by faster road travel, the story was told of Albert Einstein who, when at dinner with friends in the US was informed by the son of the family that he had just travelled a distance in five minutes less time to get there, asked the son, "And what will you do with the five minutes you've saved?"

      Einstein was the one, I've just googled, who also postulated the theory that "time's flow depends on how fast you're moving. The quicker you travel, the slower seconds pass."

      So I say to all those impatient motorists who want to smoke it, "Stick that up your exhaust pipe…."

      Reply
  2. ianmac 2
    10 November 2024 at 12:15 pm

    Surely we the people would be furious at the double standard. Really?

    "The last Government wasted millions of hard earned tax dollars with nothing to show for it. Our CoC is prudent and considers every dollar must show value for money. Trust us. We know what we are doing. Anyone who contests that is a stupid ill informed idiot."

    Reply
    • georgecom 2.1
      10 November 2024 at 3:45 pm

      govt wastes another $1.6 million. must be double or triple the rate the last govt wasted money

      Reply
    • powerman 2.2
      13 November 2024 at 7:53 am

      The money spent on researching/costing the replacement ferries was not wasted until the Coalition of Chaos cancelled it without even the concept of a plan to enable them to function into the future.

      Reply
  3. Patricia Bremner 3
    10 November 2024 at 3:40 pm

    Rewarding their cronies like Prebble, Murray Mc Cully, Bill Birch and Now Simon Bridges with the NZTA. They have no shame and have lost us standing in International Circles as not even Winston Peters could cover their terrible optics with smoking Health the Ferries contract, The treatment of Maori, and the shallow back patting of our current failure of a PM who is behaving like Macavity the cat. Often he is "Never There!!"

    Reply
  4. Mike the Lefty 4
    11 November 2024 at 4:27 pm

    Build roads.

    National's default policy.

    Reply

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