Chris Bishop.
Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
The Budget contains funding for just one Road of National Significance, which the Finance Minister says is because it was ready to go.
The Waikato Expressway will be extended from Cambridge to Piarare. The four-lane 16-kilometre stretch will cost $1.8 billion.
Transport minister Chris Bishop said the project had been talked about for years, and now the government was getting on with it.
“The Golden Triangle between Auckland, Waikato, and Tauranga is home to more than half of New Zealand’s population and around 60 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. This corridor is critical to New Zealand’s economic growth.”
Nicola Willis said the funding for Roads of National Significance would be sequenced and responsible.
“It’s ready for investment, it’s already consented, we have a really strong business case,” she said.
The project had a benefit-cost ratio of 2.7 to 3:1.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The Budget also contained a $400m package for State Highway resilience in the face of severe weather events.
This included upgrades to SH2 through the Waioweka Gorge, SH3 through the Awakino Gorge, SH25 around the Coromandel, SH60 over Tākaka Hill, SH6 between Cromwell and Kingston and between Haast and Hāwea, and SH94 between Milford and Te Anau.
Bishop said the funding would allow the roads to be strengthened before they failed, rather than the government repeatedly paying to rebuild them afterwards.
Another $1.075 billion would be spent on KiwiRail investments over the next five years. Nearly $107 million would go towards metropolitan rail upgrades.
“This reflects the fact that our nationwide rail network is degraded and requires significant maintenance,” Willis said.
It would be up to KiwiRail to come to the government with the projects for approval.
Asked if it was essentially a blank cheque for KiwiRail, Willis said “absolutely not.”
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