Bay of Plenty Councils put hands out for Government funding

Thursday, 14 May 2020

All Bay of Plenty district councils and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council have worked collaboratively to submit transport projects to the Government in the hope of 100 percent funding.

Eastern Bay councils are asking for nearly $120 million from central government to pay for road upgrades across the region.

The $120 million is included in the $755 million requested by the Bay of Plenty as part of a collaborative 'Transport Economic Stimulus Package'.

All Bay of Plenty district councils and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council have worked collaboratively to submit transport projects to the Government in the hope of 100 percent funding.

Whakatāne Mayor Judy Turner said the projects would bring economic stimulus to the local economy and help the local contracting industry to recover from Covid-19 constraints.

She said where new jobs were created, there would be a focus on employing those who had lost their jobs due to Covid-19.

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Whakatāne District Council is requesting funding for several projects including safety improvements along Thornton and Wainui roads, where there have been numerous fatal and injury crashes.

Mrs Turner said the council had already submitted the safety improvements to a New Zealand Transport Agency fund but had missed out as it was oversubscribed.

'We often have serious accidents at these sites and neither have a great track record for safety,' she said.

The council has also put forward projects to seal roads in Galatea, Minginui, Te Urewera and the end of Bunyan Road at Piripai.

Ōpōtiki District Council is seeking funding for improvements to Motu Road and the Old Creamery Road, seal extensions and footpath improvements in several locations across the district, maintenance to Road Bridge and vegetation clearing and maintenance around its roadways.

Kawerau, Whakatāne and Ōpōtiki district councils have also put forward several cycleways designed to connect the region.

The Whakatāne projects total $105 million, Ōpōtiki's projects $7 million and Kawerau projects $4 million.

Mrs Turner said Whakatāne's projects came in response to the Government's request for 'shovel-ready' projects.

She said the council tried to select projects that would have the capacity to employ people for a reasonable length of time to assist economic recovery as well as ones that provided a direct benefit to the district but were expensive for the community to fund.

She said if the projects were not picked up by Government it would mean they were 'off the table' in the short term.'

However, the council will continue to investigate other ways to fund them and prioritise them against other projects as part of our normal planning process,' she said.

Regional council transport committtee chairman Lyall Thurston said the entire package from the Bay of Plenty would not only provide immediate and substantial economic stimulus if funded, but also supported the Government's objectives for the land transport system.

“The challenges we face in recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic are unprecedented in recent history,' he said.

'However, planning for regional recovery brings with it significant opportunities for our growing region. We are well placed to make significant gains and see considerable transport projects realised, something that without the pandemic, may not have been conceivable in the short-term.

“We can expedite the recovery by working collaboratively with each other and with central government.'

The Bay’s traffic stimulus package will now be sent to the Ministry of Transport, Waka Kotahi NZTA, the Provincial Development Unit, the Infrastructure Industry Reference Group and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development accompanied by a letter signed by all regional transport committee members.