Horowhenua mayor Bernie Wanden has labelled the message of uncertainty as “totally unfair and cruel”. “With significant growth in the region, the catalyst for much of that growth has been the knowledge that the roading network between Wellington and Levin would become safer and more efficient,” he said. It was critical not just for Horowhenua, but for the lower North Island, and the country, he said. Wanden said uncertainty caused significant stress and anxiety for residents and businesses while the increasingly-busy current state highway continued to divide Levin’s centre. District councillor Sam Jennings has launched his own criticism of the apparent Government back-track, also using the words, “cruel and unfair”.
SunLive - Government s infrastructure programme in danger sunlive.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sunlive.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
But those projects were given only high-level costings by Waka Kotahi-NZ Transport Agency. Over the last year, Waka Kotahi has been doing more detailed estimates of how much the roads will cost, a process called “baselining”. Those baselines were recently delivered to Transport Minister Michael Wood, who is now considering what they mean for the continued viability of the 22 projects that make up the transport side of the $12b upgrade programme. Some of the costings could be considerably higher than estimated last year. Asked if he would commit to following through on the projects as they were announced in the upgrade programme, Wood dodged the question. Instead, he said that the Government would be making decisions in the future.
Government may axe promised roads, as costs mount in $12b infrastructure package stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.