Simeon Brown: Transport Minister says recent weather events highlight how critical Northland regional expressway is

A regional expressway for Northland is number one on the Government's infrastructure priority list.

The Transport Minister's agreed to accelerate things — letting NZTA move at pace on the route between Auckland and Whangarei.

Locals have been growing irritated following repetitive road closures, making access to Northland difficult.

Simeon Brown told Mike Hosking recent weather events highlighted how the work's importance.

“This is something we have been working on all year — this announcement — because we know how critically important getting a fix for the Brynderwyns is.”

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Praise the Lord. At last a government that has the
common sense to see what a crime it has been
for Northland to be cut off from the rest of
the country over and over and over again. So four
lanes it is all the way from Auckland to funk
Array AA calls it a game changer. Transport Minister Simming
and Brown made the announcement and he is with us
a very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Good morning mate.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Was it the weekend closure or last week's rain that
did it for you?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Notice is outlines in our government policy statment on transport
and also part of the coalition agreement with New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
First, no, no, no, no, I mean yesterday's announcement that you're
speeding it up and getting on with it.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Oh no, absolutely, I mean that's obviously one of the
reasons why we have to keep moving at pace. But
this is something we have been working on all year
this announcement because we know how critically important getting a
fix for the Brandowans is and what happened on the
weekend just highlights even further why this is this neck
we need to move at pace on this alternative.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
So, just to be clear, was yesterday's an announcement and
an announcement of an announcement, are actually going to do
something different from what you'd previously announced.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
So NZTA has is starting planning in terms of the
alternative corridor. There hasn't been any planning on this over
the last six years. So we're and what we're saying
is there's going to be a route. We're going to
take this as a single route rather than three different
projects in order to be able to speed up the
procurements to design and then to be able to get
a contract in place as quickly as possible. So this

(01:23):
is about a different way of delivering infrastructure rather than
simply doing a project by project saying actually it's one
whole corridor, let's do it together, let's get in and
get that stuff, and not planning done as quickly as
we can.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
As far as the roads of national significance go, is
this road number one. This is top of front of
the queue.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
It is in terms of walk we're and walk with Tihana.
This is the first section as announced yesterday, that is
the only major roading project in the country which actually
currently has a consent good and that is that is
the shame of where we've left what we've been, what
we've inherited, And I say to people, the good news
is it's the only one which is consented. The bad
news is it's the only one that's consented. But that

(02:00):
just shows the reality in New Zealand of needing to
be able to get a pipeline of infrastructure projects which
are consented, which can be delivered so that we can
actually build the modern, reliable infrastructure New Zealand needs. So
we've got a huge amount of work ahead of us.
This is the top priority, but there's many other roads
around the country which need need that investment as well.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Have you got a time frame on to Hannet or not.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Well, we're hoping to. With the d IS putting out
its National and Transfer program in the next couple of months,
we're intending to get their spades in the ground as
quickly as we can. In terms of the specific timeline,
I don't have a specific date that as outlined in
the last about a month ago. During this next two
to three year period, we're hoping to get spades in
the ground on that project.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Okay, how much is it going to cost?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
The cost of that is to be determined. It will
be a significant cost for this entire corriage one hundred
kilometers of four lane expressway, that will be many billions
of dollars. But ultimately, if we're going to unlock economic
growth and productivity for Northland, we need to make these
types of investments. We've also said, look, we're going to
open to all types of funding and financing to deliver that.
So we've said very clearly we'll be tolling this, We'll

(03:09):
be tolling the new roads of national significance. We'll be
using public private partnerships to spread that cost over time.
We'll be open to all types of funding and financing
arrangements to be able to invest in this infrastructure New
Zealand needs.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
My great fear is that the administration of all of
this is slower than the digging. Is that fear on
the sense by the time you get a PPP or
the Chinese involved, or any number of sovereign wealth funds
or whoever it may be, this is all paperwork and
nothing moves fast enough.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
No, the intent here is to move at pace to
get the procurement done quickly. That's why we're saying it's
actually let's find efficiencies and do all three projects as
one project rather than do them as separate, separate individual
procurement phases, individual design phases. So the intent is to
speed up all of that paperwork. We've also highlighted, as
we announced yesterday, that we're looking at changes to the

(03:59):
Public Works Act around property property acquisition.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
How quickly does that happen?

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Well that well, at the moment, property acquisition is one
of the big big slowdowns in terms of that adds
two to three years to being able to start construction.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
So what are you going to change it to we're
coming to get your house full stop.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Well, ultimately there's things that we need to look at,
such as incentive payments. Whether there needs to be one
of the key issues at the moment.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
And the scene of payments, So can you put it
through my place? I got to play some there. So
if you're paying me twenty percent on top, I'll sell
it to you now.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well exactly if you Those are the type of things
we need to look at in terms of saying, well,
if we need to speed up the process. But the
other part of it is if you're if you're a
serial litigant, you have the opportunity to oppose a consent
through the consenting phase and then you get to reoppose
it right through the Public Works Act phase as well
and have all of the same arguments all over again.
And so we need to say, actually, this is critical,

(04:52):
nationally important infrastructure. We need to look at how can
we can speed up that process so we can get
spades in the ground faster to be able to deliver
the infrastructure cylinders.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Need sooner the better, So me and appreciate it very much.
Sim and Brown Transport Minister. Just a text and what
about the second ash Burton Bridge, Mike, I'll save that
question for another day. I'm just not sure what part
of the new road were you proposing that your property
be usedful, because it would kind of have to be
a sort of a backward kind of a loop to
the existing or something scenic detour right, come on, and

(05:23):
a small you know what do they call those things
on the side of the road when you're getting too tired,
you know, take a little break, a little breakstore, a
little risk stop wristk stop sure often me twenty percent.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
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