Government Can't Take Its Foot Of The Gas Pedal On Transport Infrastructure
Road transport advocacy group Transporting New Zealand has welcomed boosts for road repair and investment incentives in today's budget - but says the Government has missed the opportunity to accelerate the Roads of National and Regional Significance, along with other growth-orientated infrastructure investments.
The Government has announced a $464 million capital and $141 million operating budget for rail maintenance to increase the reliability for commuters and freight in the Auckland and Wellington metro areas, and to replace ageing bridges, culverts and other assets.
The Government also announced $219 million in additional operating funding to complete recovery works on local roads that were damaged in the 2023 North Island weather events.
Transporting New Zealand Chief Executive Dom Kalasih says this roading boost will be reassuring to their freight operator members in the affected areas.
"We're pleased to see $219 million to fund local road repair following Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods. This will provide important certainty for the East Coast and Hawke's Bay."
Transporting New Zealand has also welcomed Investment Boost, a new tax incentive which enables businesses to immediately deduct 20 per cent of the cost of a new asset, on top of depreciation. However, Kalasih said the devil would be in the details.
Transporting New Zealand is more cautious about the boost in rail spending, saying the Government will have to carefully monitor spending to ensure value for money.
"Rail freight plays an important supplementary role in transporting non-time sensitive cargo - 5.6 per cent of the freight task by tonnage compared to 92.8 per cent for road freight. New Zealand needs a resilient multi-modal transport system."
"However, as noted in the Government Policy Statement on land transport 2024 - rail freight volumes steadily declined in the past six years, despite receiving almost $2.5 billion in Crown funding. The Government must hold KiwiRail to account on delivering a return on this additional investment if they want to turn things around."
Transporting New Zealand says it would have liked to see additional capital funding to support the infrastructure pipeline, avoiding further cuts and delays.
"Just this week we've seen NZTA announce downgrades to the design of the Ōtaki to north of Levin new (tolled) highway that will impact safety and efficiency, reflecting cost pressures," says Kalasih.
"If the Government wants to deliver a more productive, safe and efficient network of State Highways and local roads, it needs to be prioritising additional funding and revenue for growth-orientated projects like the Roads of National and Regional Significance."
About Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand
Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand is the peak national membership association representing the road freight transport industry. Our members operate urban, rural and inter- regional commercial freight transport services throughout the country.
Road is the dominant freight mode in New Zealand, transporting 92.8% of the freight task on a tonnage basis, and 75.1% on a tonne-km basis. The road freight transport industry employs over 34,000 people across more than 4700 businesses, with an annual turnover of $6 billion.
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