Here’s Michael Fox at Stuff on the new Motu bridge in Gisborne:
The Government has almost finished a $100,000 project to strengthen a bridge it will now tear down and replace as part of its new roading package.
Prime Minister John Key unveiled the Government’s $212 million roading package at the party’s annual conference in Wellington at the weekend. It includes the replacement of the one-lane Motu Bridge between Gisborne and Opotiki.
Strengthening of the bridge, which the Government says will open it up to bigger trucks, began in April and is due to be finished in the next fortnight.
Really? Is Gerry so shambolically disorganised that he signs off projects to do the same work twice, with your money both times? This is ridiculous.
The article goes on:
The bridge had only 900 vehicle movements a day and its being one-way was not a major inconvenience.
“They’ve just spent 100 grand to futureproof it for 25 years,” Caddie said.
“Even the local industry people here are saying that it’s not an issue for them, they don’t ever have to wait on that bridge and there’s never been an accident on it so they’d rather see the money going into other priorities.”
The $3m to $5m cost to replace the bridge, with construction due to start next year, was a “massive investment while there’s other more pressing priorities in the region”.
Let me get this straight. National is spending $5 million to replace a bridge they have just fixed, which absolutely nobody is asking them to do.
Who would have thought that pork-barrel road projects had such poor cost/benefit reasoning behind them. Heckuva job, Gerry.
I have just put in my OIA request for all the economic analysis on these projects. For taxpayers’ sake I sure hope they do not all come out like this one.
I assume, given the politically sensitive request about David Cunliffe’s letter about Liu sped through the OIA system in two days flat, that I’ll have my answers by Wednesday, right?
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