Government's flagship transport policy axed

Wednesday, 24 June 2020

Government ministers Damien O'Connor, left and Phil Twyford speak to the Nelson media after their meeting with Top of The South business leaders.

The Government has conceded its flagship transport policy has been put on ice, again.

It had been obvious for months the project, a light rail line from Britomart in downtown Auckland to the airport, was troubled, with coalition partners NZ First openly saying it wouldn't progress this Parliamentary term.

After almost three years, light rail finally made it to the Cabinet table on Monday. Transport Minister Phil Twyford should have left the Cabinet room closer to a decision on who would build the enormous infrastructure project.

Instead, it was axed, which the Government was forced to admit on Wednesday, saying it would be kicked back to officials after nearly three years of deliberation.

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Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said he was 'disappointed' and 'frustrated' with the outcome.

“I am disappointed with that outcome, as I am sure many Aucklanders are too.

“It is frustrating that after three years, disagreement within the coalition has held this process up. It’s now less than 90 days until the general election and we expect the incoming government to act quickly and decisively to outline its proposal to get light rail built,' he said.

Artist impression of Auckland Light Rail trains en route to the Airport

He said light rail needed to be in place within three years to head off catastrophic bus congestion.

“Tāmaki Makaurau needs a decision on light rail to meet growth on the Auckland isthmus, support intensification of housing, and head off bus congestion due to occur within three to four years – light rail needs to be in place before then,” Goff said.

National's Transport spokesperson Chris Bishop said light rail would sit alongside KiwiBuild as one of the 'major fails' of the Ardern Government.

'It’s a broken promise by Phil Twyford. It was their flagship commitment to Auckland to have it built to Mt. Roskill by 2021, and three years into their government absolutely nothing has been delivered'.

During the 2017 election campaign, Jacinda Ardern promised to have the first section of the light rail line built by 2021.

But the project soon ran into difficulty, with the Government conceding as early as last year that the project would face drastic delays.

It first ran into trouble after the Government received an unsolicited bid from NZ Infra, a joint venture between the NZ Super Fund and CDPQ infra, a Canadian pension fund, to build and run the line as a PPP.

The Government had initially planned to let the New Zealand Transport Agency, its own infrastructure builder, to build the line.

The project was beset by leaks from NZTA, suggesting incompetence and a lack of direction from the Beehive.

Twyford managed to shepherd the two proposals to what was called a 'twin track process'.

This meant the Ministry of Transport would assess the plans of NZ Infra and NZTA and give advice to Cabinet on which one it should pick, with the final decision being made by minsters.

But the problem was that Cabinet wasn't in agreement on whether light rail should be built at all, with NZ First's Transport spokesperson Shane Jones openly admitting they were 'doubting Thomases' when it came to the project.

This was confirmed in a release from Twyford on Wednesday morning.

Twyford today said the 'twin track process' had ended, and the projects had both gone back to the Ministry of Transport for further work.

'Despite extensive cross-party consultation, Government parties were unable to reach agreement on a preferred proposal.

'The future of the project will now be decided by the government following September’s general election,' said a release from Twyford.

“The Ministry of Transport and the Treasury will report back after the general election on the best option for this project to be delivered by the public sector.

'The Ministry of Transport and the Treasury will also engage with NZ Infra and Waka Kotahi about how work done on this project can support the next phase,' Twyford said.

The Green party has committed to campaigning on delivering light rail if the project failed to get approved before the election.

After Twyford's announcement, the Green party came out strongly against the NZ Infra bid.

The party, which had been a vocal supporter of building light rail said it welcomed the decision not to proceed with the NZ Infra project, 'and to instead run the process through the public service'.

But the NZ Super Fund defended the project, saying it greeted the news with 'significant disappointment'.

CDPQ Infra managing director Jean-Marc Arbaud said he was disappointed the process had been 'cancelled'.

“We gathered the best international light rail experts to put forward an integrated, inclusive and sustainable project that had the potential to spearhead the transformation of Auckland'.

NZ Super Fund chief executive Matt Whineray said they had entered the process knowing the outcome was not certain.

'As Aucklanders, we are very proud of the innovative and high quality proposal we produced with the expert support of our partner CDPQ Infra.

'We have valued the engagement we have had with the Ministry of Transport and other stakeholders over the last year and thank them for their efforts and assistance.

'We remain committed to seeking opportunities for the NZ Super Fund to invest in New Zealand, including in large-scale infrastructure, and look forward to utilising the knowledge and expertise we have developed on other projects.”