12. DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert) Link to this
to the Minister of Transport
Is he satisfied that the Pūhoi to Wellsford road of national significance represents good value for money and has had its costs and benefits adequately assessed?
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Transport) Link to this
In regard to the Pūhoi to Wellsford road it is too early to confirm exactly what the final cost-benefit ratio will be. The New Zealand Transport Agency remains in the design and investigation phase and this work is ongoing. The most recent published benefit-cost ratio is 1:1, including wider economic benefits, and this can be found on the New Zealand Transport Agency website. Given the nature of the ongoing work, the exact cost—the “c” of the “b-c”—will not be known until the design is complete, and the New Zealand Transport Agency will continue to update me as this work progresses.
I seek leave to table the Pūhoi to Wellsford: Project Summary Statement, which states that, according to a Treasury calculus, the cost-benefit is—
Mr SPEAKERA New Zealand Transport Agency document. Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection.
Was a specific cost-benefit analysis of the Pūhoi to Wellsford “Holiday Highway” project undertaken, or anything like that, before it was identified as a road of national significance?
In answering the member’s question, I should point out that he is inaccurate. There is actually a table of benefit-cost ratios, with different discount rates, and with or without wider economic benefits—I should point that out. That table is, of course, in the report that the member has just tabled. In relation to the question, though, the projects were specifically identified as strategic projects that the Government sought to see developed, and the identification of the actual benefit-cost ratios has continued through that process, as the member is aware.
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I specifically asked whether a benefit-cost analysis was done before the road was declared a road of national significance, and I do not think the Minister really addressed that.
The Minister believes he has answered that. Maybe if the Minister just clarified that part of his answer, because he did start his answer with some rather different information.
Repeating that answer for the member, I say that the projects were identified based on their strategic benefit for the country. The benefit-cost ratios of all the projects have been calculated. Some of them had benefit-cost ratios calculated at the time, and others had them developed through the process. But, as I said to the member in my answer to his first question, these continue to be refined over time, so there is no final benefit-cost ratio.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I apologise to my colleague. It was a very specific question, which had to do with one project. The Minister made general comments about other projects, but did not answer that question for this project.
It seemed to me, despite my ear being terrible on the right, that he was saying that at the time it was named as a road of national significance there was no information about the costs, so it was impossible to have a benefit-cost ratio. That is what he seemed to be saying. The answer to the member’s question seemed to be no, therefore.
Does the Minister still have confidence that the “Holiday Highway” can be built under a budget of $2 billion, when the State highways manager, Tommy Parker, recently stated: “Every time you put a spade in the ground up there you’ve got to put in retaining structures, or tunnels or something. The level of ground movement is more than we had anticipated, which makes huge problems and huge costs.”; if he does have confidence, what might minimise these unforeseen costs?
Obviously the member has been catching up with his reading. I mean, this was publicised in mid-July of this year—
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. It was a straight question—although you, Mr Speaker, do not like the title given to the highway—and it was a gratuitous initial response.
An opinion was sought, asking whether the Minister agreed with Tommy Parker, and questions asking for an opinion are always less precise. But perhaps the start of the answer was unnecessarily gratuitous.
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. It is a further point of order. The member persists in calling it a “Holiday Highway”, which I think many people around the country find a little offensive, and I think that is a gratuitous and opinionated matter, so I think that on balance the question was met with a similar answer.
I will deal with this matter right now and take no further points of order on the matter. The Minister does make a valid point that calling a road of national significance a “Holiday Highway” is gratuitous. The Minister makes a perfectly fair point. However, let us get on with the answer, because a question was asked, and, apart from the unnecessary use of that language, the question was a perfectly reasonable question, so let us hear the answer.
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Although I take your advice on that, about a year ago, Mr Joyce was at a meeting where he called the highway the so-called “Holiday Highway”—
I am on my feet and there will be no further comment from anyone. Clearly, if the member wants a straight answer to a question, the road being referred to is the Pūhoi to Wellsford road on State Highway 1. If the member wants answers to questions, it is best to use the straight language. It leaves Ministers less opportunity to wriggle.
The point I was making to the member is that we have been aware for some time that particularly north of Warkworth there are some challenges. In fact, the New Zealand Herald of Friday, 15 July broke the story for the member by saying that there were some issues in Dome Valley, in particular. I think that is the point—it is challenging and there are significant challenges to be worked through, and there are engineering challenges, which I believe I have also acknowledged previously in this House. There is more work to be done and, again, we will not know the final benefit-cost ratio until that work is done.
Given that more than 40 people have died on the Pūhoi to Wellsford road in the past 9 years, what action has the Minister taken to upgrade the existing State Highway 1 while we wait for his Pūhoi to Wellsford road?
The Transport Agency has taken a number of initiatives, including two—I would have to say—varied reviews, lowering the speed limit on part of the section of that road to 80 kilometres an hour to assist in lowering the road toll. As I say, they have been varied reviews, but doing that has actually had some success in the incidence of accidents. It remains a very dangerous piece of road, though, and ultimately the answer is to have a separated highway for those high-volume highways around the country where we have high volumes of traffic seeking to pass each other in opposite directions in very difficult conditions. That is why this road is being developed.