Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 7/8/23

We know where to go for bridging finance, but what about tunnelling finance when you are digging for up to $45 billion?

You can learn from the government’s official website today how ministers intend spending- or misspending – our money.

They are talking about spending it on building two new three-lane road tunnels under the Waitemata Harbour.

But Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Transport Minister David Parker did not tell us in their statement how much they intend spending on this grand – or grandiose – programme.

The answer is no secret and can be found (among other places) in a One News headline:

$45bn Auckland tunnels plan: ‘Money apparently grows on roads’

The story beneath the headline says “up to $45 billion”, but no matter – if it doesn’t grow on roads, where will it come from?

The government doesn’t know.

And by the time it finds out when Waka Kotahi reports back to Cabinet next year with a detailed plan, the Hipkins bunch may not be calling the shots. In fact, the latest opinion polls suggest they certainly won’t be calling the shots.

The announcement from the PM and his former Inland Revenue Minister is one of two new press statements on the website since Point of Order’s previous check.

And fair to say, it is not a firm plan; rather, the PM talks a “proposal”.

“Under this proposal the network will become joined up, allowing Aucklanders to travel from the north to the south, east and west on public transport – freeing up room on the existing Harbour Bridge and in the new road tunnel for those who want to drive.”

The other statement on the website draws attention to key priorities for the Fisheries Industry Transformation Plan.

This tells us seafood earned the country a record $2.1 billion in export revenue in the year to June and employed nearly 12,500 people.

Oceans and Fisheries Minister Rachel Brooking doesn’t mention the cost of implementing a plan intended to protect New Zealand’s oceans and support innovation in the seafood sector.

She does say:

“This plan looks at ways we can earn more and create more jobs without catching more fish, by, for example, making more medical, cosmetic and nutraceutical products from seafoods.

“But our oceans are under pressure too, and there’s no doubt we’ve got to find ways of doing things differently. Protecting ocean ecosystems and all the species living in them is critical to not only the survival of the industry, but also to the survival of life on Earth, especially as climate change impacts like ocean acidification and warming start to bite.

“That’s why I’m so pleased that New Zealand’s Fisheries Industry Transformation Plan puts environmental protection, climate change and community development at its heart.”

Latest from the Beehive

Shaping a more sustainable and innovative fishing industry

Protecting New Zealand’s oceans and supporting innovation in the seafood sector are key priorities for the Fisheries Industry Transformation Plan.

Phased tunnels for second Harbour crossing

Two new three lane road tunnels under the Waitemata Harbour, one going in each direction, and a separate light rail tunnel that will link to the existing Auckland Light Rail corridor is the proposed plan for a second Auckland harbour crossing, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Transport Minister David Parker announced today.

The Waitemata Harbour tunnel announcement has been widely discussed over the past 24 hours or so and many commentators have noted the project is unlikely to be completed in the political lifetimes of the ministers who have announced it.

Moreover, the costs projected now (but not mentioned in the press statement) are unlikely to bear much relationship to the final bill.

The features are:

• Two new three lane road tunnels (one in each direction) for vehicles between the central Auckland motorway junction and Akoranga on the North Shore. These are similar in concept to the Waterview tunnel.
• The road tunnels will be each 5 to 6 km long. By way of comparison the twin 3-lane Waterview Tunnels are each 2.5km long.
• 6.3km of new separated bus lanes on the Northern Busway between Akoranga and the city centre.
• Reallocation of space on the existing Auckland Harbour Bridge for the northern busway.
• Walking and cycling paths from Westhaven to Constellation including the re-allocation of one of the lanes on the Auckland Harbour Bridge to cycling, with further advice sought on an elevated walking platform above the cycle lanes.
• Under any phasing option the number of lanes available to cars, trucks, public transport, walking and cycling all increase above the status quo.
• The raising of State Highway 1 between the existing harbour bridge and Akoranga to protect against increasing flooding and rising sea levels, potentially using tunnelled material.
• Securing the land for the interconnection points south of the bridge, including to maximise use of the City Rail Link and the much needed North Western busway.
• A separate new 21km light rail tunnel that links to the existing Auckland Light Rail corridor, and goes from Wynyard (east of the existing Auckland Harbour Bridge) to Albany, with stations at Belmont, Takapuna, Smales Farm, Glenfield, North Harbour and Albany West. This would be a separate project from the road tunnels, and would be built in stages (as the Auckland to Waikato Expressway has been).

“Cost” was not exactly forgotten by whoever wrote the press statement.

There is one mention of that word:

“A project such as this must be delivered in stages, like the Waikato Expressway was, so that the cost and roll-out of each element can be managed carefully and responsibly. The Government has asked the New Zealand Transport Agency – Waka Kotahi to accelerate work on essential first steps towards realising a transport plan of this scale.”

The PM goes on to say:

“We could afford the Harbour Bridge in 1959, when Auckland’s population was only 430,000, so we can afford a second crossing that will modernise transport for the city’s residents and the millions of people who visit every year,” Chris Hipkins said.

David Parker contributes to the statement by saying he welcomes another key element of the preferred option, extending the Northern Busway across the bridge into the city centre.

“The Northern Busway is among New Zealand’s most successful public transport projects – it has vastly improved the daily commute made by thousands of North Shore residents into the city centre each day. Without it the northern motorway and the bridge would already be completely clogged at peak times.

“The twin-tunnel connection would allow the busway to be extended across dedicated lanes on the Harbour Bridge into the CBD. This is essential to maximising the value of other important investments such as City Rail Link currently under construction.”

Parker said the Government is instructing Waka Kotahi to speed up work to protect the route and acquire land along the emerging preferred option corridors.

The Waka Kotahi recommended option also includes raising State Highway One north of the Harbour Bridge to protect it from flooding caused by storm surges and sea level rise.

Waka Kotahi will also report back to Cabinet next year with a detailed plan for how the elements of the cross harbour plans can be phased and funded.

That will address the critical question: who will pick up how much of the tab reckoned to be up to $45 billion (or much more, if Transmission Gully tells us anything).

Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton