So far, the government has spent $33 million on Transmission Gully. They’re planning on spending another $30m just to sign the contract on the Public-Private Partnership. That’s over $60m down the drain on a project with only $360-$500m of benefits before a single metre of road is built. All up, the cost will be $3.4 billion – trebled by using the PPP model.
What an almighty waste of our money.
If the coffers were overflowing, Transmission Gully would be the last thing you would spend the money on. And they’re not. Instead, we have a long list of things that are ‘too expensive in the current fiscal environment’ – things like lifting kids out of poverty, building a rail loop so that Auckland’s CBD won’t grind to a halt, and investing in environmental sustainability.
Let’s call the $33 million they’ve wasted on Transmission Gully a lesson learned, cut our losses, and spend the $3.4 billion on something worthwhile.
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