THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING
Replacement Route
The preferred route to replace the troublesome road through the Manawatu Gorge. Photo NZTA
continued from page 39 major hurdle and takes a ridiculous amount of time,” says Shirley. “While the business case for Option 3 is expected to be completed within the next few weeks, work isn’t predicted to begin until 2020 – due to the laborious and bureaucratic consent process.” RTF and its associations have been advocating for the Manawatu Gorge project to be treated in the same way as the rehabilitation of State Highway 1 through Kaikoura, where emergency legislation was used to bypass some of the onerous provisions within the RMA. Along with other important recovery projects such as re-dredging Kaikoura Harbour, the emergency provisions allowed local councils and utility companies to dispose of the thousands of tonnes of material from the landslides blocking SH1 without the need for time-consuming resource consent processes. “I cannot see why the Manawatu Gorge project was not given the same legislative priority as Kaikoura was,” says Shirley. “The loss of the Gorge is just as disruptive as the loss of SH1 for the communities affected. It also adds a great deal of cost and time to the lower North Island freight task. “It just makes sense in these cases, where a vital route is damaged or destroyed, that rehabilitation happens as quickly as possible and is not held up by unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy.” Shirley reckons that the Manawatu Gorge decision is only the first of a number of key roading investments that this Government, which has stated its aversion to improving the state highway network, may have to face up to. “It is undeniable that major investments are needed on projects such as the East-West Link, Otaki to Levin, SH1 through Wellington, and SH2 between Katikati and Tauranga. Not only are they critical to NZ’s ongoing economic growth, but there are major safety issues at play as well,” says Shirley. 40 | Truck & Driver
“It’s going to be extremely difficult for the Government to refuse these projects when there is such an obvious need for them.” Infrastructure NZ chief executive Stephen Selwood has highlighted the problem the Government has created for contractors – having put so many infrastructure projects on the backburner: “Cancellation of major projects, delays in new projects coming to market and uncertainty about future transport funding are forcing the contracting sector to release skilled staff, just at the point at which the Government wants to increase the speed and scale of construction,” Selwood says. “It’s natural for infrastructure priorities to change with new leadership, but the scale of change in recent months, combined with high uncertainty over future transport funding, is having a particularly heavy effect on a sector under pressure from rising input costs.” In response, Transport Minister Phil Twyford has sought to reassure contractors regarding the pause on work, however his comments also offer a fairly concise overview of the government’s infrastructure intentions. Says Twyford: “The important thing to remember is that we are not going to be building any less or spending any less on new infrastructure – in fact, we’re going to be spending more and doing more. “It is just going to involve a slightly different mix of projects. We are going to be spending more on regional roads, more on local roads, more on urban public transport and rapid transit systems and more on rail. We are going to be spending less on four-lane, dual-carriage expressways,” he adds. Shirley says that the Government’s purpose “is pretty clear. And while the details, such as the Government Policy Statement, may not yet be available (at the time of writing), it is inevitable that there will be a significant change of policy direction. “However, just like the Manawatu Gorge decision, the Government may find that it has to shed its ideology and just get on with the work that must be done to keep NZ moving.” T&D