Headline: Government planning to pay Japanese bank’s profits for quarter of a century
The Government is setting New Zealand taxpayers up to spend the next quarter of a century paying a Japanese bank healthy returns for a redundant motorway
The National Government’s announcement that it plans to sign a contract with a consortium funded by the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi will see Kiwi taxpayers paying the bank profits for quarter of a century, Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter said today.
The New Zealand Transport Agency has announced that the ‘Wellington Gateway Partnership’, which has the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and the Accident Compensation Corporation as its funders, will be its ‘preferred bidder’ to build Transmission Gully as a Public-Private Partnership.
It is estimated that Transmission Gully will cost around $900 million to build, yet payments to the consortium will be $120-$130 million a year for 25 years, or over $3 billion in total.
“The Government is setting New Zealand taxpayers up to spend the next quarter of a century paying a Japanese bank healthy returns for a redundant motorway,” said Ms Genter.
“Despite falling traffic volumes on the route that Transmission Gully will duplicate, National is committing to pay $120-$130 million a year for this project. Taxpayers will end up paying a total of over $3 billion for a motorway that is projected to cost $900 million to build.
“Transmission Gully is forecast to make congestion in Wellington’s Urban Motorway worse and decrease rail patronage by effectively subsidising commuters and trucks that use the road by $15 per trip.
“Why spend $3 billion on a $900 million project that will make congestion worse? This is an irresponsible use of current and future taxpayers’ money.
“Rather than spend $3 billion delivering profits to a Japanese bank and getting an uneconomic motorway in return, we should be investing in congestion-free transport projects and improving the safety of the road north of Wellington. These projects are more cost-effective, and better for households and commuters because they reduce congestion on the roads and reduce overall transport costs,” said Ms Genter.
Additional information:
Payments from Crown to PPP consortium for Transmission Gully – $120m-$130m pa (total, $3b+)
Forecast average traffic volumes on TG each year it is a PPP
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