by Gareth Hughes
Often when talking about the Government’s uneconomic and frankly dumb transport policy to people a common response is ‘well, that’s because the Road Transport Forum donate so much to the National Party.’
Yesterday I ran a bake sale outside Britomart to help Auckland buy back the National Party from the road and truck lobby and highlight the Governments obsession with new motorways. It was a bit of a humorous way of asking ‘does Auckland need to fundraise to influence Government transport policy for the projects it needs, such as the CBD loop?’
Before the last election, the Road Transport Forum was the largest single election year donor to the National Party, donating $30,000 to the party and more to individual MPs including Climate Change Minister Nick Smith. While the rest of the country tightens its belt, Road Transport Forum members benefit from a bonanza of borrowed Government dollars on new projects, many totally uneconomic as Rod Oram pointed out last November. Given the large financial contributions they make, is it a surprise Transport Minister Steven Joyce is pouring billions of borrowed dollars into uneconomic motorways, yet failing to fund Auckland’s CBD Rail Loop?
We got a great reception from the public, because as polls, and the local body election showed, Auckland needs and wants the CBD Rail Loop – a far more important project for true economic development than the Puhoi to Wellsford Holiday Highway.
Transport projects should be prioritised based on their economic merits and benefits to Kiwis, not favours for donors.
Published in Economy, Work, & Welfare | Featured by Gareth Hughes on Thu, January 13th, 2011
Tags: CBD Rail Loop, motorways, Northland, Puhoi to Wellsford, transport
More posts by Gareth Hughes | more about Gareth Hughes
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
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The Greens need to realise that calling the wellsford-puhoi (note the direction) extension as a “holiday” highway demotes the economic concerns of the people of Rodney and Northland.
The highway is the lifeline of the Northland economy and its upgrade is no less important to the people of Nortland than the Waikato expressway is to the people of the Waikato.
To demonise Northland as only a “holiday” destination for Aucklanders is strategically silly electioneering from the Greens.
So it is has no economic merits or benefit to Northland?
Do you expect Northland to prosper without suitable access to the rest of New Zealand?
Be careful as frog (who sees racism in cancelled or postponed Maori TV programmes) will see your stance against the highway as racist.
Why would you deprive Northland Maori the economic development equal to the Maori development offered by the Waikato expressway?
Hone will not be pleased with your obvious racist stance.
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The issue is the comparative economic value of the CBD loop in Auckland not funded and the motorway.
And are you seriously arguing that spending of less economic value can be justified depending on who the beneficiaries are … and if so, you still cannot deny the fact that the holidayers get more direct benefit than the economy in Northland.
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Catch up by reading http://blog.greens.org.nz/2010/11/03/uneconomic-motorways-one-thing-brash-and-i-agree-on/ and then try again
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I’m fine with not fastracking uneconomic motorways, but apply the same standards to your own mode.
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Investing in Northland Rail would give a far more sustainable benefit to the region. This motorway is all about squeezing more Auckland holiday-makers north, not helping freight movement anywhere.
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SPC,
Like the Waikato expressway, the Wellsford-Puhoi highway upgrade is but the start. Expect the upgrade to go at least to the top the Brenderwyns.
Note that the Waikato expressway is still not finished, work on the Huntly to points south section is just starting.
Not a hint of oppostion from the Greens on the Waikato expressway.
You suggesting that the people of Northland do not need an upgraded roading system but the people of the Waikato do?
Rimu,
The future economic model will be vastly (as people and jobs move north out of Auckland as they are doing going south with the development off the Waikato expressway) different then the one modelled on existing economic function and returns versus the future one.
What comes first, infastructure to promote economic development or ecenomic development leading to infastructure upgrades?
The Auckland CBD rail loop is not of significance to the people of Northland (well not as much as an upgrade of the NAL rail line), so why the strawman of a choise between the Wellford-Puhoi road link and the CBD loop?
Should the argument not be channelling the road upgrade cost of the Wellsford-Puhoi section into the NAL rail link.
And if we read BJ’s first comment on that linked posting of yours we find this
Same applies to the Wellsford-Puhoi upgrade. It is an route for Northlands economy to flow south. While BJ refers to potential flooding of the main Wellington access route, the same applies to Auckland.
Settlements further north on higher ground will be a prerequisite and the infastructure to enable that is important.
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The picture that the Wellsford-Puhoi upgrade is a “holiday” only upgrade is clearly an emotive beatup. ALL of Northland economic survival and growth has to travel that roading system.
The rail and coastal shipping options are barely existing and not economically viable.
IF the argument was to divert the money into the rail system or coastal shipping transport option for Northland, I would be supportive.
But to say Aucklanders can have a “holiday” highway OR the CBD loop is not a good strategic position for the Greens to take this election year.
Ask the people of Northland what they want.
CBD rail loop that is of benefit to Auckland commutors?
Or an upgraded rail, road, shipping service for Northland?
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“..The picture that the Wellsford-Puhoi upgrade is a “holiday” only upgrade is clearly an emotive beatup…”
absolute horseshit there gerrit…
..the only time that section of highway one is busy is during holiday rushes…
“…ALL of Northland economic survival and growth has to travel that roading system…”
(that’d be that ‘emotive beatup’ you just referred to…?..)
..northlands’ ‘economic survival’ is in no way dependant on joyces’ holiday-highway..
how on earth could it be..?..wot..?..trucks can’t get thru..?
you really are full of it..aren’t you..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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@ Gerrit
On your call that the Holiday Highway (aka Puford) is helpful to the north, you might to consider the following:
The WEBs for Puhoi-Wellsford comment on the desirability of trucks being able to do 2 round trips per day carting logs and forestry products between Northland and Auckland. Remember that the base case for this road without WEBs is a BCR of 0.4 as has been effectively highlighted by Rod Oram. In other words 40 cents return for every dollar spent!
And…….hang on a minute, isn’t log traffic core business for Marsden Point?
WEBs assume poaching of forestry traffic from rail AND Marsden Point. How does that benefit Northland?
Therefore, Puford potentially puts both Northland rail and Marsden Point’s forestry traffic at risk.
Taking a closer look at Northport’s operating structure is instructive – http://www.northlandportcorp.co.nz/about.php
The Northland Regional council holds 72.3% of the shares. Its primary areas of interest include the actual operating company 50% owned with Port of Tauranga, a Stevedoring company, a Coolstores company, and crucially 180 hectares of Industrial zoned land at Marsden Point available for sale/lease.
Now, hit the link to the operating company itself and then go to this section: http://www.northport.co.nz/node/471 (Expected Shipping and Vessels in port)
It becomes very clear just how critical the forestry traffic is to Northport, yet the loss of this traffic is claimed as a WEB for Puford.
Before anyone claims the benefits of competition, the fundamental competing infrastructure investment has to be sound and Puford clearly is not.
As has been done for years for rail, it is indeed interesting to now see Northport being subjected to the National Party tilting the playing field.
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tuktuk,
Rubbish.
Northland logging is predominately around Kaitaia and shipping logs by road to Auckland by road does not fit into your two round trips a day scenario. Wellsford – Puhoi upgrade is but a small part of the road the logging trucks will need to traverse. Where do you get a two round trip scenario from anyway, milage wise and load and unload times plus drivers compulsory rest stops sees a single round trip of 10 hours at least.
Only way you will get a two trip in a day scenario will be to double team a single truck with two driver rotation.
Other major areas of logging are Dargaville and the Kaipara. Those logging trucks use SH16 through Helensville and unto the North Western motorway. (anyone up in arms on the extension of that through Greenhithe and onto Whenuapai?)
The figures you quote are based on existing traffic economics but not based on potential future benefits.
The question remains
and
The picture that Gareth Hughes painted, and basing his sentiments on, is not to proceed with the Wellsford – Puhoi upgrade but to channel those funds into the CBD rail loop.
It is wrong to take away any advantage for the betterment of the Northland community and funnel that into an Auckland commutors wishlist.
Same as it would have been to redirect the $32M spent on the Kopu bridge replacement and associated road works from the Coromandel community.
No outcry on that “holiday” road upgrade I notice.
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Except that I doubt the money has a significant influence apart from around the edges of policies. If donating money would really have an impact on policies, then all business would need to do to get a low tax environment is donate hundreds of thousands to Labour and see those juicy low taxes. There is another reason why National is in favour of such policies.
I would also note that we really need both projects and that we cannot simply pick and choose. The Australians have been spending up large on infrastructure projects for decades, while we fell behind courtesy of Muldoon and his idiotic methanol plants. If we want to catch up, then we really need to pour the money into infrastructure.
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@ Gerrit
Suggest you swot up on the 2009 Puhoi-Wellsford business case and the SAHA report.
From the 2009 business case –
’4.3.2 Forestry
While large of unprocessed logs and wood chips are directly exported via Marsden Point, there is consderable production of value added products such as sawn timber and engineered timber and boards. These are either sold on the domestic market or exported in the general cargo vessels calling at Auckland and Tauranga. While rail does carry some of this traffic its share of the market is relatively small and there is a heavy dependence on movement by road…..for the basic products exported through Marsden Point the unit values are typically low at around $200 per tonne whereas for the range of more sophisticated timber products exported through Auckland, the average value is much higher at about $1200 per tonne’…….
’4.3.7 Potential Wider Economic Benefits
……looking at the movement between Whangarei and the port of Auckland, currently a round trip can typically be achieved twice within a standard working day within the winter. However within the summer period with increased congestion, espeically within urban centres along SH1 between Whangarei and Puhoi,this cannot be achieved and the reliability of the route is compromised’.
And finally from Richard Paling’s addendum to the SAHA report:
‘The volumes of timber harvested in Northland are large and are likely to grow substantially over the future as existing forests are harvested. For the timber industry, the choice is essentially between exporting basic products such as logs and woodchips via Marsden Point or exporting higher value added products such as boards and sawn and engineered timber to markets either in New Zealand further south or to international markets accessed via the ports in Auckland and Tauranga.’
Quite clearly, the argument to build Puhoi-Wellsford relies on forestry traffic that now uses Marsden Point instead being trucked to Auckland or Tauranga for export. Please explain how this will economically benefit Northland.
Quite clearly, there is spare land at Marsden Point that is totally suited to employment intensive timber processing plants FOR EXPORT out of MARSDEN POINT. That is what will bring real growth to Northland. Not the transport minister’s white elephant corporate welfare project for truckies.
And something else you might want to consider…..timber exporters get hit with much higher customs and duties for higher value timber-based products rather than logs. This is why raw logs continue to form a much higher proportion of exported timber products then they should. Nowhere in the Puhoi-Wellsford business cases, are factors like this even considered.
Face it, the Holiday Highway is a complete lemon.
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The Road Transport Forum also gave money to the Labour Party and the Maori party at the last election.
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tuktuk,
So forestry is the only economic measure for Northland?
No tourism, no fruit and vegetables, no dairy, no beef and sheep, etc.
These so called exports actually talked to the people in Northland about what they want?
You may get an indication here
http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/local/news/puhoi-wellsford-highway-long-wait-for-northland/3930571/
Notice you dont care to address any of the questions I asked.
Specifically why the Greens (through Gareth Hughes) is keen to take away Northland development money and divert it into the Auckland CBD rail loop.
Why are the Greens not insisting that the money be invested in the NAL rail line?
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@ Gerrit
I think I have clearly responded to your query in regard to the 2 round trips per day between Northland and Auckland……by specifically by quoting from the reports themselves. Although an exercise in clutching at straws, the Holiday Highway’s economic case relies among other things on value added timber processing plants being built close enough to the Port of Auckland to allow 2 round trips per day from Northland over the Holiday Highway by truck.
On the comparison with the ‘$32M spent on the Kopu bridge replacement’ project: One key difference is one of scale. $32 million is not the exactly $1.7 billion proposed spend for the Holiday Highway. There has been a very promising and lower cost Operation Lifesaver package of safety improvements for the current Puhoi to Wellsford highway devised as an alternative to the minister’s white elephant.
And before anyone raises concerns about wire barriers and motorbikes….. lets do full motorway style concrete barriers between the 2 lanes of traffic going up/down Dome Mountain. This will still be a fraction of the cost of the Holiday Highway.
A much lower cost for a package of safety improvements that will yield equivalent benefits much sooner than the Holiday Highway.
In regard to the other goods and products that Northland makes; fruit and vegetables, dairy, beef and sheep:
….the setting up of a timber processing plant at Marsden Point with a potential container port outside the front door does more to encourage the growth of Northland Inc. than the Holiday Highway ever will. Given enough scale, there is no way container ships won’t stop by Marsden Point with its deep draft port. With the timber products as anchor customer, a virtuous cycle can then be set up so that other exporters based in Northland have the opportunity to export out through Marsden Point rather than burning carbon miles trundling down the road to Auckland by truck.
If transport to Auckland is required, why not tug and container barges?…. the lowest cost form of transport known.
If there is some call for intermediate speed goods then lets do take a look at Northland rail….. I understand it costs $7 million per year to maintain. It needs $200 million to build the link to Marsden Point and to fix a critical tunnel en-route. Lets multiply the $7 million per year by 200 years to achieve $1.4 billion and add the $200 million CAPEX….. So: it will take the Holiday Highway 200 years to build a better economic case than simply fixing up the current rail line.
Time sensitive goods then yeah sure, send it by truck. But can you tell me what percentage of produce coming out of Northland is time sensitive? 5%, 10% at the very most? Should the nation fund those few producers of time sensitive goods a $1.7 billion motorway just so they can be stubborn enough to send their time sensitive goods out on December 27th?
And finally to recap on tourism….. the issue of Aucklanders wanting to charge up into Northland on the 27th en masse again no way justifies $1.7 billion. As for overseas tourists – I’m sure that a drive on a big flash motorway was not what they had in mind when they booked their tickets to New Zealand
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Tuktuk, it takes a train seven hours to get from Westfield Yards through to Whangarei. A truck could do the same distance in less than half the time – it is pretty obvious that the North Auckland Line will not succeed unless there is a serious realignment, and that will cost a fortune.
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tuktuk,
The issue was for the Wellsford-Puhoi road upgrade to be cancelled and the money allocated to the Auckland CBD loop.
This is Gareth Hughes quote (scroll up and read)
You want Northland development by your rhetoric, so do you agree with Gareth Hughes that true economic development for Northland will come from completing the Auckland CBD rail loop instead of the Wellsford-Puhoe road upgrade?.
If we look at the AA driving times calculator we find that a one way trip from Whangarei to Auckland takes 2 hrs 20 minutes.
http://www.aatravel.co.nz/main/td-calculator.php
Double round trip would take 12 hours if we allow loading and unloading times.
I think the allowable driving time for truck drivers is 13 hours before a 10 hour break is required.
Cutting it a bit fine for a double trip from Whangarei, not to mention Kaitaia.
If you were advocating that the money for the Wellsford-Puhoe road upgrade should be better spent on the NAL rail upgrade and possibly an Oakleigh to Marsden Point spur line, you would get no argument from me (said that in one of my comments already!).
However to allocate the funding for Northland Economic Development to an Auckland Economic Development is wrong.
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Ok Gerrit, fair comment.
To agree with you however, I still have to ignore the fact that Auckland has been under-provided in transport infrastructure relative to tax revenue gained relative to the rest of the country until recent years.
Coming back to economic growth in Northland: Perhaps the better exercise is to evaluate a $1.7 billion spend on a Holiday Highway versus investment in other areas. That money would give a timber processing plant one big kick-start. There are also potential clusters of excellence in the marine industry, especially super-yachts. Ultrafast broadband to both east AND west coast communities is another obvious choice.
Gisborne subsidises its air links to the rest of the country gaining higher frequencies and larger aircraft than would otherwise be the case. Could something like this be done to bring Whangarei closer to Auckland? I am always shocked at the very different fare structure on regional link services in contrast to air travel between the main cities. $1.7 billion would buy a lot of subsidised air travel between Auckland, Whangarei and other communities in the north.
Water storage is another project worthy of consideration as an alternative to the Holiday Highway. If water storage could be provided, it would give Northland’s dairy industry much greater security and in turn help encourage investment…….of course funding would also need to be provided to ensure Northland’s waterways are kept free of dairy farm ‘run-off”.
Given Northland’s climate, there is also the potential for what would be literally “seed money” to development other crops and forestry tree types. There are a great number of FSC certified tree species out there. A number may be suited to Northland and a great alternative to our primarily Pinus Radiata based timber industry. I note for example that already, Saligna (Sydney Blue Gum) is produced in Northland.
Finally, Gareth Hughes campaign to me was about highlighting the links between party political funding and the party policy that eventuates.
Personally, I believe that even though the Road Transport Forum was the largest donator to the National Party with $30k….. this is just loose change in the bigger picture. The former chief of the Road Transport Forum was ex Nat, Tony Freidlander and it would be a fair bet that he has facilitated donations of far greater sums over the years to the National Party especially in the days before this information had to be disclosed.
Also of interest to me are the secret donations given in the past to the Waitemata Trust. The Green Party in particular has played a great role in helping to try to bring more transparency to party political donations…… I refer you to the link to the below article for recent history:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/news/249774
This is just one of the reasons that the Green Party has my vote this year. And lastly, what is the current status of donation disclosure?
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Donations under $15k do not have to be disclosed. I think that’s within any 12 month period.
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Tuktuk, another approach might be to construct the Puhoi to Warkworth route as it needs a decent upgrade, do the safety improvements to Dome Valley, secure a corridor for Warkworth to Wellsford and either do some improvements to infrastructure in Northland, or consider that to be a decent contribution to the economic development of Northland. I would estimate that a Puhoi to Warkworth dual carriageway road would cost somewhere between $500 million and $750 million (remember, the terrain gets worse north of Warkworth, so the cost dramatically increases).
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@ Valis. Thanks for that. Good to see that for donations over $15k per 12 month period at least, transparency will be maintained. Does this explicitly include donations made through trusts such as the Waitemata Trust?
@john-ston. Check out Len Brown’s article in the NZ Herald today:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10699823
I suspect that what you are suggesting is going to become the guts of the eventual compromise.
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Yes, well it used to be $10k (and we pushed for $1k) so transparency has taken a hit. And I believe you can’t launder through a trust, no.
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I suspect so as well. The AADT of State Highway One between Puhoi to Warkworth is around 16,000 and it nosedives to around 11,000 between Warkworth and Wellsford. The figure of 16,000 is not too far off the figures that are found on State Highway One south of Mercer (those figures are about 20,000) and that section of road is already dual carriageway.
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There is no such thing as the Puhoi to Wellsford Motorway. The scheme will be a hybrid of Motorway from Puhoi to Warkworth and Expressway from warkworth to Wellsford. This is mentioned in the SKW report of December 2009 which was commissioned by NZTA and is the whole basis on which they have based their strategy for this project. It was confirmed by Steven Town of NZTA in a meeting I attended last week. Also confirmed was their target completion dates which are Puhoi to Warkworth 2022 and Warkworth to Wellsford 2032.
NZTA have no idea how they are going to get the road built up the Dome Valley and certainly not through the Brenderwyns. The people of Northland and those in Warkworth and Wellsford want some action now, NOT IN 21 YEARS TIME. Scrap the ridiculous scheme, upgrade the existing highway, put in some sensible by-passes at Warkworth and Wellsford. Start the safety improvements NOW so that we don’t have to suffer another 40/50 fatalities on this highly dangerous road. Save over $1Billion and spend it on projects that really will benefit Northland.
The government and NZTA are deluding themselves if they really believe that this project will bring any benefit to Northland at all.
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