My Account
A suggestion that the Rodney Local Board Transport Targeted Rate should be re-directed from local bus services to road repairs is not being supported by the board chair Brent Bailey.
The idea of re-looking at the committed projects under the targeted rate was first put forward by board member Geoff Upson, and then taken up by Warkworth representatives Ivan Wagstaff and Michelle Carmichael.
“While I understand the attractiveness of this in response to the very real needs of residents waiting on Auckland Transport (AT) to attend to storm damage and potentially beef up the maintenance program for rural roads, I do not support this approach,” Bailey says. “In my view, AT will have pretty much reached capacity to deliver these works and just throwing money at them may not improve response times.
“Further, any delay in delivering the projects already started will result in them needing to be re-scoped as inflation erodes the delivery budget. Construction costs are going up at more that 30% per annum at present and with an additional $400 million of work needing to be undertaken in Auckland over the coming couple of years this price pressure is likely to get worse in the short term.”
Bailey says that in Sweden there are over 140,000kms of roads that are privately owned and operated by Private Road Associations.
“My challenge to the groups that feel that taking control of road maintenance back from AT, and giving decision-making and budgets to the homeowners that live on them, will deliver better value for money.
“Further, I urge the people of Warkworth to make deputations to the Local Board in support of the pedestrian safety and public transport projects that may be about to be paused. There is a real risk that these will be compromised by well-intentioned but misdirected attempts to undertake road maintenance work that will be being undertaken by AT.”
