Minister Phil Twyford and Mayor Phil Goff announced the ATAP, the transport programme for Auckland for the next ten years.
At $28 billion it is the largest civil infrastructure programme since World War II.
That $28 billion comes from:
– $8.45 billion of borrowing and rates from Auckland Council
– $1.5 billion fuel tax (which also attracts FAR subsidy, so there’s
more in that)
– $16.3 billion NLTP
– $1.4 billion City Rail Link contribution
– $ .36 billion from Crown Infrastructure Partners
And that $28 billion is about 38% of the National Land Transport Fund
– just a fraction above Auckland’s national share of the population.
That goes to:
– $8.1 billion in operational costs (especially more for public transport subsidy as more people take public transport)
– $3.3 billion in asset renewals
– $8.4 billion in rapid transit, which covers busways, rapid rail, and light rail
– $3.8 billion on strategic and local roads
– $1.3 billion on roads etc for green fields areas
– $ .9 billion safety improvements, targeting a 50% reduction in death and injury
– $ .9 billion walking and cycling
– $ .7 billion bus and ferry improvements
– $ .7 billion network optimization
You will see more of the detail debated on GreaterAuckland, but I’m
keen to see how this lands politically, which is our speciality here.
Whangaparoa’s Penlink will be done as a ppp, and will also include busway improvements to Silverdale
Mill Road gets $.5 billion.
A busway to the airport from Puhinui will be very fast off the rank, with bus lanes to start, then full busway separation.
AMETI busway Panmure to Botany gets full funding.
There’s $1.8 billion in seed funding for light rail for both SH16 and first stage of light rail to airport. More on that later.
This Lake Taupo-sized volume of money will be difficult for both AT and NZTA to spend (AT rarely spends the capital it has in any year, and NZTA are full of motorway-heads resisting this Minister and are poorly led by their CE: let’s see if the new Chair makes a difference).
It will also be difficult for the infrastructure construction industry, especially with Fletcher Building not bidding for anything major in infrastructure any more. And skilled people very very hard to find. Let me know if you’re qualified and interested.
This is what transformation looks like.
Plenty will argue that this is a supply-driven response, not a demand-driven response to Auckland’s transport constraints. The same number of cars will be imported every week. Except, the fuel tax move is a pretty big demand lever.
Others will say it’s taking too much time. Or it’s somehow not enough. Or what about the … (insert special interest group). Worth checking the public transport stats in case you’re skeptical about spending on public transport.
My view is: this smells and looks like leadership.
It’s what they both campaigned on, so it tastes like Good Old Fashioned Politics.
It unites central and local government on transport like we haven’t seen before in this country.
It taxes, it spends, and spends to tilt Auckland’s future the right way.
This is as big as when they tore up the tram tracks and started building motorways in the 1950s.
It’s a really big deal.
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